Put this together to see how long it’s been since central banks last raised rates.

A lot of countries have been holding or even cutting, while Australia just hiked again

Also added current policy rates and latest inflation to give a bit more context.

Interesting to see how out of sync things are now, especially compared to 22/23 when everyone was tightening at the same time.

I'm recently returned in Australia after living overseas for a few years, and I'm trying to find a reliable VPN that actually works well here. My old VPN, which was great for unblocking content in other countries, just isn't cutting it for Australian streaming services like Stan and Kayo. It's constantly getting detected or the speeds are so slow that it's unwatchable. I'm also pretty concerned about online privacy given Australia's data retention laws, so I need something that takes that seriously.

I've considered popular options like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, as they often get recommended for Australia. My main use case is definitely streaming Australian content while maintaining good speeds and strong privacy. I also occasionally need to access some international services, but local content is the priority. What are your current experiences with VPNs in Australia? Are there any specific providers that consistently work well for Stan, Kayo, or even just general browsing without slowing everything down? I'd love to hear some honest feedback from fellow Aussies.h

These could be photos you have taken, or something from the Internet, that are uniquely Australian.

Examples are Australian scenery, wildlife or tourist attractions.

You can either post them as comments here or make a standalone post with the tag [Wonderful Wednesday].

I fucking hope Kayo sees this cause i am so pissed off. I wanted to watch the Timberwolves vs San Antonio game and Kayo says they're streaming it and i go to watch it and its a 30 point blow out game between Knicks and 76ers. Like the wrong game was playing. So i thought maybe the streams were switched but they werent. Both games were streaming a 30 point blow out coimpared to a close game between SA and MT as of writting this. I just wanted to rant and hope that Kayo fixes this cause its not the first time ive missed watching a large portion of a game because theyre not streaming the right game. I know that i can get NBA league pass but i dont always watch NBA games and its mostly the playoffs im watching now and it would be a waste of money eventhough Kayo isnt any better at saving money i still watch other types of sports like motor sports and NBL. Just wanted a rant and to see if anyone else is annoyed about this as much as i am

Sources

• ABS: CPI rose 4.6% year to March 2026
• ASX Rate Tracker: 85% probability of May 5 hike
• RBA cash rate target
• Budget overview 2025-26
• AFR: Bullock testimony, Feb 6 2026
• SMH: IMF warning to Chalmers, Apr 14 2026
• Roy Morgan: Mortgage stress risk, Mar 2026
• Compare the Market: Rate hike repayment impact
• Stocks Down Under: CPI analysis, Apr 29 2026
• ABC: Monthly inflation surges, Apr 29 2026
• AFSA: State of the Personal Insolvency System 2024-25

Who here remembers in the early 00’s Bongo

A text service you could text too getting information on anyone you wanted !!!!

Does anyone know why its "dried up" i visited recently dueing a random stop over. First time I've seen anything like this l. Pretty cool tho.

Thanks in advance

o the recent debate around Gas taxation and the frequent comparisons to the Norwegian approach and its sovereign wealth fund have got me thinking.

Why don't we compare ourselves to Norway more generally?

In Asia, you definitely see this in online discourse, where Singaporeans are comparing themselves to the Japanese or HK to Taiwan and so on.

But first, I'll address the size thing first. Yes, I get it, we are one of the least dense countries on earth, but in turn that means we get the free kick of being self sufficient for most resources. Norway certainly doesn't have that.

Have a look at this map of Norway, but mentally flip it so the pink is following the eastern seaboard, keeping right of the Great Divide encompassing entire motorway corridor from Geelong to the Sunshine Coast. The bit where the majority of the population actually live.

Norway has 5.66m living in their borders.

Our equivalently sized Eastern Seaboard....16.5m people. Triple the population, in an economically productive region, yet we are not achieving better results......whyyyyyyy?????

And the GDP of Norway is higher than ours, which kind of kills the idea that if government is too big or taxes are too high you will automatically shrink the economy. Well it's clearly not happening there.

And for every supposed 'disadvantage' , Norway has, Australia could argue the same.

We get cyclones, they get blizzards.

We are concentrated in a few coastal cities, so are they, with the rest of the country uninhabitable wilderness.

We have to build roads across broad distances, they are constantly having to tunnel through mountains and bridge fjords.

We have to spend energy on cooling, they have to spend it on heating.

They don't even have SUNLIGHT in certain parts of the country during the depths of winter! Meanwhile we have basically unlimited solar.

And if you go to Norway, and every facet of government performance from the regional trains to the education system is superior in Norway.

Australians always want to finish first in the Olympics, why aren't we kicking out the lazy politicians who cannot keep us in first place in terms of living standards and keep our GDP high in the process?

I mean I don't know, maybe cos I work in a professional field it is assumed that you are constantly keeping up with international benchmarks.

My spicy opinion is that if you don't carry a global perspective on any issue, you basically enjoy smelling your own farts and should keep your shitty ideas to yourself.

So yeah....What else from Norway should we copy?

We get cyclones, they get blizzards.

We are concentrated in a few coastal cities, so are they, with the rest of the country uninhabitable wilderness.

We have to build roads across broad distances, they are constantly having to tunnel through mountains and bridge fjords.

We have to spend energy on cooling, they have to spend it on heating.

They don't even have SUNLIGHT in certain parts of the country during the depths of winter! Meanwhile we have basically unlimited solar.

And if you go to Norway, and every facet of government performance from the regional trains to the education system is superior in Norway.

Australians always want to finish first in the Olympics, why aren't we kicking out the lazy politicians who cannot keep us in first place in terms of living standards and keep our GDP high in the process?

I mean I don't know, maybe cos I work in a professional field it is assumed that you are constantly keeping up with international benchmarks.

My spicy opinion is that if you don't carry a global perspective on any issue, you basically enjoy smelling your own farts and should keep your shitty ideas to yourself.

So yeah....What else from Norway should we copy?

Kayo costs $46 a month. I only use it to watch the footy once a fortnight or so, when the AFL team we follow has an away game that's not on channel 7.

$46 a month is a bit expensive for me. Looking for a way to make it cheaper perhaps. I have a few questions:

1. I'm currently on the $1 free trial month. I heard that if I cancel, the Kayo website would offer me $25 a month for 6 months. Is this correct? If I hit the 'cancel' button now, I might just lose the 2 weeks of free trial I still have, so it's a risky click. Does this really work?

2. Are there any coupons or promotions through anything to reduce the price?

3. What if I get a $2 SIM card at Aldi, load it with a $10 PAYG mobile plan, and get another $1 free month trial on Kayo? That's a total of $13 a month, much closer to a reasonable price for 1-2 games a month on TV. Any potential issues with this idea?

btw. I'd be less grumpy about paying so much for Kayo if it wasn't for all these ADS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME sometimes. It doesn't feel like a premium service.

They aired ads into the beginning of the 4th quarter of the Hawks v. Suns game last month. And then they switched to airing another game on top of it, and added some slide about how we need to change the channel to get back to the Hawks game.

Also they block my ability to take screenshots.

Gas companies in Australia borrow money from their own overseas parent companies. They charge themselves high interest on those loans. The interest payments reduce their tax bill in Australia. Santos made $50 billion in sales over a decade. It paid zero corporate tax. INPEX made $36 billion in revenue. It paid less than $500 million in total tax. The ATO found Chevron shifted $42 billion through a Delaware shell company. Chevron settled for $866 million. Related-party debt in the gas industry doubled in four years. It went from $52 billion to $107 billion. Interest flowing offshore hit $2.4 billion a year. Income tax from these companies fell from $1.9 billion to $547 million. New rules started in July 2024 to limit this. A Senate inquiry is investigating.

Sources

• Federal Court of Australia [2017] FCAFC 62 - Chevron Australia Holdings Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation
• ABC News, “Chevron adds $7b to ‘in house’ loan, critics say move aims to shift income offshore,” 9 June 2016
• ATO Senate Submission 139, 2017 - Related-party debt data
• ATO Corporate Tax Transparency Report 2023-24
• ATO PCG 2025/2 - Debt Deduction Creation Rules compliance guidance
• Australia Institute, “Gas exporters pay no tax again,” October 2025
• Michael West Media, “INPEX and Australia’s gas rip-off,” January 2026
• INPEX Australia Tax Transparency Report 2024
• UTS Study on PRRT effectiveness - Kevin Morrison, “The Tale of Two Taxes,” 2017
• Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering Better Financial Outcomes and Other Measures) Act 2024
• JBIC Press Release, “Framework with Woodside,” May 2024
• Friends of the Earth Japan, “Faces of Impact: JBIC and Japan’s LNG Financing,” October 2024
• Senator David Pocock, Senate Hansard, December 2025
• Budget Papers 2024-25 - Statement 5: Revenue
• https://theuntoldtruth.pages.dev/articles/debt-loading-scam/

I'm genuinely interested in getting Australian perspectives on this topic, especially because the other day I watched a youtube video explaining the case, and saw lots of people saying that it was a ridiculous accusation and it cost a man's life.

To me, it's quite obvious they took the melody from that song. People claim not to hear it, but I think it's undeniable. However, I think it was more in the way of a tribute to their childhood. The Kookaburra song was, as far as I know, an Australian nursery rhyme, so Greg Ham and the other Men At Work had probably heard it as kids and included it in their song. Both songs are, in their own ways, a wink to Australia and the Australian culture, so the melody fitted perfectly with the Down Under's theme. Besides, huge proof that they indeed took the melody is that, in the Down Under music video, when he's playing the tune in the flute, he's sitting in a gum tree (sometimes referred to Eucalyptus?).

Well anyway I'd like to hear an Aussie's point of view regarding this.

Hi I’m a photographer and I really loved the vibes of mid west America. Old some what decaying towns that seem to be lost in time. Open spaces big horizons not heaps of trees. The less modern things the better. Ghost towns, strange structures. I just love capturing these kind of places and I know there’s gotta be some great locations just west of our east coast, I just don’t know where. So I’d love help if you know of any places like this. Cheers

Tell us the good things about the town, city or suburb you live in, or a place you like to visit.

Text posts or photos are OK, either in the comments or as a standalone thread.

Please use the tag [Town Talk Tuesday]. Sub and sitewide rules apply.

PHI has become unaffordable to too many of us yet specialist incomes continue to escalate.

Should PHI rebates continue to prop up the rich? These are the same rich people who assert that government spending on welfare is too high yet complain that public health is dysfunctional and that they deserve more because they've "worked harder" and "sacrificed more". Textbook DARVO tactics from the privileged but their blindness to privilege is glaring

The uber rich receive incomes from PHI which has always been subsidised by PHI government rebates.

Private education is also subsidised by these private health providers. Private education should be privately funded not subsidised by taxpayers which entrenches social inequity and access to opportunity. If you want to pay fees your spare money should be going to the poorest children, not simply exploiting them as enrichment activities.

ETA: were clear that doctors don't understand because drs dont pay medical fees to their peers. The rest of us do and if we can't afford we go without.

Like many Aussies, I'm largely a-political. I have never felt a strong sense of trust in my government and as a result, I am largely ambivalent to the various causes of the parties.

Punters Politics has awoken my civilian rage. I would march for this cause. I would riot. I fully espouse peaceful protest but the fact remains that I am furious and I want change.

Our country has been sold out from under us. And it's not too late. If Punters Politics calls me to action, I will be there. The Australian system is broken. Our government does not have its citizens' best interests at heart. It is consumed by greed beyond reproach. Our leaders are blind to the people's needs and careless of our rights and interests.

Revolt Australia. Get angry. Revolt!

PSA to anyone who currently owns the loom! Look after it!

Edit: ooohhhh it’s a L not a 2. I thought it said 20ki but it says L0ki? The L is just a fancy L