The PR Blog

I am proud to pay tribute to a testimony to the power of coal. If a grand old lady of over 100 years can still stand with coal power in a world seemingly obsessed with renewables I have to say this: try running her on wind power or solar panels. Or looking for a big enough power point to plug her into each night. She works 14 hours a day in the summer months when the days are long and there is always a brisk breeze on Lake Wakatipu but she still thrives on Coal. 

Anyone who has ever visited the beautiful town of Queenstown in New Zealand, will know the sight of the steamship Earnslaw. 

The TSS Earnslaw is an integral part of Queenstown’s pioneering history and to this day a Queenstown icon. She was commissioned by New Zealand Railways to service the communities around Lake Wakatipu. Launched in the same year as the Titanic, the TSS Earnslaw’s maiden voyage was on 18 October 1912. 

And this grand old lady runs on something that is demonised today -  hard back-breaking work and coal. 

An exclusive editorial investigation by Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Chief Correspondent, Ratty News

Dusty Gulch - To the untrained eye, it looked like a tantrum.Two titans of modern swagger....Donald J. Trump and Elon R. Musk...squabbling like boys at a sleepover, fighting over who gets the top bunk, the last lamington, or the final say in America’s next great drama.

One called the other “disloyal.” The other pretended not to care.... while a Tesla got keyed outside a moong bean festival celebrating gay pride in Gaza. Social media was abuzz. Left-wing judges wagged fingers. Meme factories shifted into fifth gear.

But here at Ratty News, we sniffed something deeper.

Was this ego? Was it orchestration.... A two-act spongecake of political theatre baked with surgical precision to lure out a nest of rats hidden deep within the walls of government?

If it isn't? Then that matters too...... 

On June 6, 1944, the world witnessed an extraordinary event that changed the course of World War II. Known as the Normandy Landing, or D-Day, it marked the largest amphibious invasion in human history. 

The Normandy Landing was the result of months of meticulous planning and preparation by Allied forces. Under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a multinational coalition consisting of American, British, Canadian, and other Allied troops including Australian, came together to devise an audacious plan. The objective was to establish a foothold in Nazi-occupied France and initiate the liberation of Western Europe.

Canberra's finest fall from grace... and altitude

They came, they posed, they plummeted. In what was billed as a whirlwind outback charm offensive, Prime Minister Albanese, Climate Minister Chris Bowen, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong descended... quite literally... on Dusty Gulch for a photo-op tour that turned into a full-blown bush baptism.

Dressed in high-vis vests and sporting expressions of city-bred optimism, the trio’s visit quickly unravelled into a cautionary tale of political parachuting gone wrong, airborne budgies, CWA sabotage, and old fashioned bush justice. As Ratty Airways circled low and Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble reported live, the stage was set for a landing so unforgettable it may be commemorated in marmalade for years to come.

It was supposed to be a triumphant outback photo op for Queensland Day. Instead, it turned into a comedy of altitude and attitude -  with the Prime Minister, the Climate Minister and the Foreign Minister all taking a dive, quite literally, into the heart of Dusty Gulch.

Anarchy often gets a bad rap. Images of burning buildings, rampant lawlessness, and a general sense of "uh-oh" tend to dominate the narrative.

But let’s put down our pitchforks and Molotov cocktails for a moment and consider the potential upsides of anarchy. 

After all, every cloud has its silver lining, and every chaotic free-for-all has its perks. Just imagine? No more bureaucratic red tape. 

Ah, bureaucracy,  the bane of modern existence. Forms in triplicate, waiting lines longer than a Tolkien novel, and rules so convoluted that they make calculus look like finger painting. But in anarchy, guess what? No more red tape! Want to build a treehouse without a permit? Go right ahead. Feel like setting up a lemonade stand without a business license? Be my guest. The world is your oyster – shuck it however you please.

Just imagine a world ruled by Anarchy........ and compare it with a world ruled by modern government.

Part 2 of the Cane Series

I’ll admit, before diving into this series, I hadn’t given much thought to how the sugar industry shaped our Constitution. Like many Australians, I knew the name Sir Samuel Griffith from schoolbooks, maybe from a university crest or a street sign..but not much more. Yet, as I followed cane’s tangled path through Queensland’s past, it led me to a moment in time when sugar, race, labour, and law collided. And at the heart of it stood Griffith: barrister, Premier, and constitutional architect.

What struck me wasn’t just what he said, but why he said it....and what he hoped Australia might become.

On 31 March 1891, during the charged debates that would shape the nation's Constitution, Griffith rose to speak on a subject that had long troubled him.... the importation of black labour into Queensland's cane fields. He warned:

“...the introduction of an alien race in considerable numbers into any part of the Commonwealth is a danger to the whole of the Commonwealth... upon that matter the Commonwealth should speak, and the Commonwealth alone.”

It was a defining moment. Not just in law, but in the struggle to decide what kind of country this fledgling Australia would be.