All posts by Noel Turnbull

Another guest appearance on the Grand Prix and its opportunity costs

The indefatigable Joan Logan highlights the opportunity costs of the Grand Prix.

Dear Premier, Minister Carbines and Minister Richardson.

Congratulations on your new roles in government – I think.

I’ve worked as a nurse in the same public hospital for 52 years with the last 40 years in its Intensive Care Unit. It badly needs a refurbishment. Our long-term patients need fresh air. We need space for our equipment. We need fully functioning isolation rooms. We need a dedicated holistic room for patients to die with dignity surrounded by loved ones. It would be excellent too to have TVs for patients who are bed blocked. And it would be even better if our patients were not bed blocked! And, of course, it would be so much less stressful if we had enough staff. read more

The latest Grand Prix misinformation

The costly myths behind the Grand Prix – a guest appearance

Peter Logan, president and spokesperson for Save Albert Park Inc., responds to Liberal Shadow Minister for the Environment Nick McGowan’s recent comments in TWiSK, the local City of Port Phillip paper, on Albert Park

The article – “LIBS ALARMED BY YEARS OF NEGLECT” (TWISK 26 June)-  by Liberal Shadow Minister for the Environment, Nick McGowan, regarding Albert Park needs addressing. read more

What does AI say about the AWM and Frontier Wars?

A friend, Peter Thomas, who served in Vietnam at the same time as the blog, decided to ask his AI friend what it thought about the Frontier Wars. After some input from him he got the following answer. On checking AI got one or two things wrong, but the exercise is interesting, nevertheless.  

The most significant result is that, if  you rely on official Australian history sources, there is a strong argument that many of the conflicts between British settlers (and colonial authorities) and Aboriginal peoples meet accepted historical definitions of war, even though they were not formally declared wars by governments at the time. read more

It was war – whatever the War Memorial says

This post was published, with the author’s permission, on the Defending Country Memorial website.

It links to Ray Kerkhove, ‘Alice Duncan-Kemp’s “Warrior Lodges” and Kooroongoora: structures of resistance during Australia’s Frontier Wars’Oceania, Volume 95, Issue 1, March 2025, pp. 71-93, March 2025. First published online 16 April 2025, an open access version facilitated by University of Southern Queensland, as part of the Wiley-University of Southern Queensland agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. read more

It was inevitable

It was inevitable – it had to happen and the only question was when.

Today markets are moving into a major correction – a development predicted by Fitch ratings a few days ago – when Fitch warned that an AI-related correction had become a “major global credit risk’ due to the scale of AI investment, elevated tech valuations and the impact of AI on global markets. read more

History repeats itself

It is extremely unlikely that Donald Trump has even the slightest knowledge about history.

But if he did, he might realise that the problems he is experiencing with the Strait of Hormuz are very similar to those experienced by other countries in the past 500 or so odd years.

In 1507 the Portuguese viceroy of India, Alfonso de Albuquerque, tried to blockade the Persian Gulf by subduing the Kingdom of Hormuz. According to John Aspinwall, writing in History Today (July 2026), The campaign was a failure. read more

The dodgy Aussie Census

While various religious groups are entrenched in wars – US Christian Nationalists, Muslims, Israelis – it is worth looking at another sort of religious battle – the one designed to prevent the forthcoming Census from accurately reflecting the status of religion in Australian life.

The August 11 Census will ask questions about religion. read more

ABS uses tricky dicky tactics on Census

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has fallen into that common political failing – exemplified by Tricky Dicky Nixon – when the cover up becomes a bigger problem than the event itself.

The Rationalist Society of Australia’s Si Gladman has revealed that the ABS blocked a damning statement about the controversial ABS Census religion question. read more

Taking a break…but in the meantime

Donnald Trump recently took to Truth Social to claim his “REAL POLL NUMBERS” are “THE HIGHEST THEY HAVE EVER BEEN” but failed to cite any actual survey to support his claim.

The reality is rather different. According to G. Elliott Morris’ latest analyses he is even deeper underwater.

53% of Americans see grounds to impeach Trump and respondents most name corruption and abuse of power as his main offences. read more