We are told it’s all under control. Markets are managed, energy transitions are planned, and the future is green and bright.
But every promise comes with a bill. From the speculative frenzy of Bitcoin, Australia’s costly flirtation with renewables to Norway’s rare success with hydro, the lesson is clear: good intentions are never free. Not in Australia, anyway.
While governments assure us they have the answers, the quiet drip of cost - economic, social, and personal - tells another story.
In the shadow of climate pledges, tech booms, and economic experiments, we find ourselves staring at something that feels a little like Seymour’s “Audrey II” from Little Shop of Horrors—an ever-hungry plant demanding more blood.
Read more: How Much Blood Are We Willing to Give?
Read more: The New Versailles? Weimar, Net Zero, and the Powder Keg of Collapse
“Some of us may forget that, of all the Allies, it was the Australians who first broke the spell of invincibility of the Japanese Army.”
- Quote from Field Marshall Sir William Slim, Commander of WW2 Commonwealth forces in Burma (and later Governor General of Australia).
And that first fracture in the Japanese Land Forces strength came at Milne Bay in September 1942. Alongside Guadalcanal weeks later, Milne Bay marked the first land defeats of the Japanese, shifting the Pacific war’s momentum.
When 5 Ducks Take on Snakes, Dusty Gulch Prepares for Bloodshed
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Special Correspondent for the Dusty Gulch Gazette
Dusty Gulch Stadium is no place for sneaky ducks.
This morning, word hit the paddocks: five Plentaview ducks are squaring off against a band of unruly American sidewinding snakes, and the locals are not impressed. They like their ducks in a neat row, thank you very much ...but order is clearly on holiday.
I tracked the contenders down to Dusty Gulch Rugby Field and filed this exclusive: the ducks and snakes aren’t just playing ...they’re threatening the very rules of the game and everything we hold dear: trust, honesty, and a fair go.
In this sun-scorched arena, where politics tackles rugby, the ducks have swapped their tidy formation for a chaotic dance with the Yankee Coilbacks, while a goose- media mogul Goosie Loosie - hovers, honking half-truths into breadcrumbs of confusion.
Referee possum Didelphis Noxbridge keeps a wary eye on proceedings, but with Dusty Gulch citizens ready to blow the final whistle, this isn’t a match. It’s a reckoning - for trust itself.
" Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. " Ronald Reagan
Churchill understood this truth. In the darkest days of World War II, he made decisions no leader envies - sacrificing the few to save the many.
But today, the equation feels reversed. More and more, our governments cast us adrift in pursuit of their fevered dreams of a ‘better world’...one where the majority scrape by on scraps, clutching our books in secret, listening for the jackboot at the door.
We’re told to sacrifice the many for the sake of the few. But in doing so, we risk squandering everything our forebears bled and died to protect.
Read more: When We Forget History, We Become Its Next Cautionary Tale
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Special Correspondent
It began with a harmless question over a cup of tea and a lamington: “How many toes does an emu have?” The answer - three - ought to have settled the matter.
But in Dusty Gulch, even a question of toes can lead straight to trouble and once Gondwana is mentioned, you know you’re in for an argument about migration, belonging, and who gets to rearrange the paddock. Yes, dear readers, Gondwana’s Great Ratite Rumble: Who Rules the Paddock? has begun.... murmours in Dusty Gulch are rife as Emus Defend Paddocks as Ostriches Demand Savannah in Dusty Gulch Showdown!
Read more: Ostrich Invasion: The Feathered Feud of Dusty Gulch!
During World War II, Australia was a vital cog in the Allied machine, sending troops abroad, supplying bases, and hosting American and British forces across the Pacific. But not every sector of the nation was fully committed to the fight.
On the waterfront, the Waterside Workers’ Federation (WWF) - known to most as the wharfies - became infamous for strikes, obstruction, and outright sabotage at the very moment the nation was fighting for survival.
What made their conduct so divisive was not only the disruption, but the question: were they fighting for workers’ rights, or for ideology?
Read more: The Unions’ War Within the War - Country or Cause?
Of all the magnificent units and regiments of the Australian Army I doubt if any have a better claim to have been the one that saved Australia than the 39th Infantry Battalion, the first to advance down the Kokoda Track to confront the Japanese.
There are a number of units who could claim this title. The 25th Brigade in the defence of Milne Bay and the Coral Sea Battle. The former was supported by the RAAF. The Coral Sea Battle was a largely American enterprise.
The 39th held the Japs at bay alone and unsupported until the 7th Division arrived fresh from the Middle East. For that they get my vote without detracting in any way the efforts and performance of all of our other units, and the Americans, who took on the Japs.
The Emu War is one of Australia’s strangest historical events. In late 1932, the government actually sent the army to war… against birds. And they didn’t exactly come out on top.
It was a peculiar event in Australian history that took place in the Western Australian region of Campion during the Great Depression.
Yes, the Australian government sent a small military force, led by Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery, armed with two Lewis guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, to the region. The plan was to cull the emus and reduce their numbers to protect the crops.
Curious? I’m not surprised. After all, if the Australian Army couldn’t dispatch a few pesky birds, then something was seriously amiss. So let me enlighten you and tell you all about the time the Australian Army went to war against its own coat of arms… and came away with feathers in its face.
Read more: The Emu War - Never Pick a Fight Against Your Coat of Arms!
For nearly a decade, I’ve poured my soul into this blog. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, no pay - just love. Picture me at 3 a.m., hunched over my keyboard in a quiet place like Dusty Gulch, the glow of the screen catching a moth’s flicker outside. I’m writing about our sunburnt pioneers, the cheeky cackle of a kookaburra, or a satirical jab at the world’s latest lunacy. Every word is a piece of us ...our laughter, out tears, our stubborn pride in Australia’s spirit.
You, my readers, get it. You feel that tug for stories that make us human. But now, a digital magpie called Perplexity AI is prowling, eyeing our yarns. Can it steal our facts? Maybe. But our heart? Never.
Here’s the deal with this Perplexity bloke. It’s an AI search engine that doesn’t just point you to blogs like mine - it swallows them whole, chews up the words, and spits out a tidy summary. Dates, stats, facts - all neatly packaged. Sounds fair dinkum, right? Except here’s the rub: it doesn’t always send you to the source. My posts, your comments, the independent voices we cherish...they’re left in the dust, invisible.
Read more: The Soul of Our Stories: Why AI Can’t Steal Our Heart
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