Nobody wants to say China
A couple of weeks ago at the Australian Clean Energy summit, there was a dawning realization that in our rush to diversify the energy grid we are accidentally “diversifying” our cyber security risks too.
Where, once upon a time, we could double and triple check the barriers around big old coal plants, now we have opened electronic doors to our grid on homes all over Australia. Energy geniuses told us solar panels would be decentralized, but instead, now that Australia has 25,000 megawatts of household solar, we have to add wireless gadgets to control them remotely. And some of these gadgets are coming in from fly-by-night small time operators. If, hypothetically, a foreign power wanted to be mean, or just hold an extra negotiating or blackmail card up its sleeve, we’re making it very easy. If Mr Chin wants something approved, he could say “Nice grid you have there…”
Small scale solar is so big, As Williamson points out, that it supplied 13% of the electricity to the NEM so far this year. And in Western Australia, it has generated 20%. (Boy is the West in trouble?)
On top of this, to deal with the hellfire price spikes at 6pm, the government is subsidizing industrial batteries in homes, wired to the grid, often working in shared “virtual power plants”. Meaning that homes will have large boxes of chemical energy, controlled remotely, and nearly every gadget is made in China.
No one likes to say it, but China is the cybersecurity elephant in the renewable energy room
By Rachel Williamson, Reneweconomy
A combination of state- and regulator-mandated access points with woefully insecure small devices are building an open door for cyber attackers, says Darren Gladman, regulator manager for major equipment supplier SMA Australia.
“My god, small scale. We’ve just introduced an emergency backstop mechanism to turn everything off. If you wanted to make a hacker’s life easy, how could you have made it any easier?” he said during the panel session at ACES.
“The battery rebate, it’s great. However, it’s led to a lot of battery suppliers, a flood of batteries coming in. Some of these companies, when you look at their structure, they might be two or three people in Australia. They’re not thinking about cybersecurity. They’re trying to survive in a really competitive, cutthroat industry.
“And then you’ve got on top of the backstop mechanism. You’ve got virtual power plants. You’ve got this space that lends itself to manipulation so easily, an industry that’s so competitive and so under-resourced that this is seen as a complete luxury, until you’re told that it’s not, and no one’s been told that it’s not.”
The federal battery rebate requires that all home batteries bought with the subsidy be VPP-enabled, and in Western Australia they must be connected to one.
Apparently the rush of insecure gadgets into Australian homes is so bad, that it was referred to as “Digital Asbestos” by David Owen, a Deloitte partner. He wonders who will pay for the replacement of all the inverters if we realize, too late, that they pose an unacceptable risk?
Rachel Williamson reports that everyone in the Australian renewable industry is fine with talking about buying things from China until someone says the word “cybersecurity”. Then suddenly people won’t-mention-the-CCP-word, except to hint anonymously. It’s a strange state of affairs.
In the end, the nation that lied about a pandemic, then launched hostile trade wars when we asked for answers, now potentially has access to many of our homes. It may also have control over explosive batteries and potentially could bring down our grid…
Maybe we should have thought of that ten years ago?
Related: What if a foreign hacker could turn home batteries into “pager-bombs” but 7,500 times bigger?
Imagery ©2025 Google Map data
If there is a pewter lining is this, it that the clever homeowner will have to assets to live off grid.
Wrap the wireless in a bit of tinfoil. build a serious firewall between your living quarters and the battery,
and buy at least one inverter that can deliver power more regulated than that required by an electric drill.
Bingo — you one wire cut away from begin free of all this mess when all this mess fails catastrophically.
The above seems easier and more practical than changing out the government…a shame, that.
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The article says that in Western Australia if people buy a subsidized battery it must be “VPP enabled”. It’s going to cost people a lot to get a battery they own themselves.
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The regs also state that if connecting a battery to an existing inverter, it MUST be VPP enabled. I had to dig into the government websites for a little while to find that little gem. Why is it hidden so many pages into the document when it is clearly a critical component of the government subsidy?
This requirement. (to be a VPP), is not written in bold print on the first page of all documents, why not? Especially since the VPP use of YOUR battery will result in it having a shortened life and higher maintenance costs. A detail that is very important to the homeowner.
If a business was to try this SNEAKY deal on a typical contract, (say a car lease), they would be in front of a court trying to defend an obviously unfair contract term. I’m betting the government will never have to defend these VPP enabled contracts. Is the home owner even made aware of the consequences of being a VPP?
I wonder if RickWill has checked his contract for a VPP clause and what he is doing to void it. I recall him saying that his system is not a VPP.
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It’s been painfully obvious from the get go that Governments will have to find some way to *chain* households to the grid, to delay grid collapse as long as possible.
This is the reason that when (it’s not an if now) I pull the trigger on a battery set-up, it’s going to have a small, grid tied element, and the bulk will be off-grid.
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I recommend that you have a grid tie that links directly to a ‘simple’ battery charger. There is no way for back feed from your batteries that way.
Of course, you are going to need redundancies in place in case a battery dies or in case an inverter dies, etc. Most people, with grid available, would use the grid for this. However, IF you keep the grid linked to your property you will need to pay the daily charge. Expect that cost to keep going up, especially if the grid owners know that you are mostly off grid.
In years to come I can see next door neighbours being each others backup. Both off grid. Both without any grid connection but both with a power link across the fence to enable power for essential devices should one have a breakdown. This link COULD be AC, (expect the law to shut that down), or it could be a DC current, below 60V, (which legally ANYONE with skills can play with).
And then the law changes, (to cover Bowen’s backside), to prevent the grid having less/no domestic customers.
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Thanks for the tip.
On the subject of grid charges, I fully expect that Government will *require* you to pay daily charges for the grid link that runs to your property, even if you don’t actually use it.
Part of the keeping you chained to the grid measure.
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Local water supply authorities charge water rates on vacant properties where the pipe goes past the property but not connected. I imagine it would be harder for an electricity supplier to do the same because many rural property host power lines but have no connection already. The downside of many people avoiding connection to the grid is that clowns like Bowen can claim they are providing suffient power because there are no blackouts. Far better, from a national point of view, to use the grid and crash it on hot or cold days. A disaster is necessary to drive home the reality. Nothing less will stop the spin doctors that keeps Bowen spouting his falsehoods and associated drivel.
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In years to come I can see next door neighbours being each others backup.
That was not possible before the State monopolies on power generation and distribution were removed.
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I ordered my battery before the rebate was on offer but took advantage of the rebate when it was available and delayed the energisation to ensure the rebate. My battery has VPP capability but it is not currently available to anyone. The battery coms is connected to the household internet but it requires password for that, which I control.
I do not see any household being forced into VPP. The new rules under discussion are working out how it might be possible to entice households to join a VPP. There is a realisation that the household sector is the only group that is transitioning. Industry is leaving and commercial users just pass costs on. The grid is stuffed as an ecomic entity.
Taking power from my battery without my permission would be no different to taking petrol from my car without my permission. It is not my problem that government policy has turned the NEM into a crapshoot. I will only remain connected while the grid offers some economic benefit.
So far I have only had one day when I did not draw power from the grid – August 11. Today is the first day the battery has fully charged. I will be exporting from 4pm today – first time since battery was installed. And it takes about 80% of the charge to get through sundown to sunup at the present time. So I have very little margin to export now. I would want very attractive incentives to make my battery available for VPP.
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The article says that in Western Australia if people buy a subsidized battery it must be “VPP enabled”.
Regulations also state there must be a disconnect between the transformer and the household power system, normally in the form of a circuit breaker (or main fuse).
If the local battery system is set up to properly function in islanded mode (no grid power), the abuse of the required VPP connection might lead to those being removed/unset during the 1600-2000 time period every day?
As an aside Western Power (attempted to) transition from wireless reading of usage and billing data to reading through the powerlines themselves. The last two billing cycles a Western Power utility has appeared with a meter person in attendance.
Synergy, the billing company, said raise an issue with Western Power.
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Interesting. There are ways of installing panels and batteries to be independent of the grid:
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/12-tips-going-off-grid/?_se=ZGphc2swMUBpY2xvdWQuY29t&utm_campaign=sq_news_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_source=brevo
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-blackout-inverter-mb1494/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20important%20safety,and%20could%20damage%20grid%20hardware.
Which is why the leftie governments are legislating against it I guess. Can’t have the citizens being independent, even if they are using the green crap!
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Just about everything we’ve been told about super expensive ,toxic, unreliable W & S + combined with home batteries and our personal security and they could also be a time bomb.
And all of this idiocy comes with a price tag of 7 to 9 TRILLION $ when we factor in toxic wind and huge scale solar farms that would destroy our eastern Aussie environment.
When will we wake up?
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Consequences shmoncequences. The standard shrug of the mainstream Australian politician and his/her compliant media.
We have to do something, but what? I’m keen on the August 31 protests, but there’s no transparency. Who’s running them? What are the goals? Who will be speaking? It’s starting to smell bad.
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Agree! This Aug31 thing cannot be traced to who organised it…If its viral then maybe it might be just a critical mass thing. I do hope that those attending are from EVERY corner of Australian society….except the white supremacists!
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Topher Field has publicly disassociated himself from the event, says the organisers are white supremacists behind the scenes, using his name without his permission to promote the event. Advises people to stay away. No link, sorry, but he has put up a piece on his YouTube blog.
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So why don’t we stop this risky roof top solar and toxic W & S farms plus dangerous batteries and save 7 to 9 trillion $ ?
The life of these toxic W & S disasters + batteries is very short and will have to be replaced in 15 to 20 years anyway and BASELOAD Nuclear power stns are very cheap and will last until 2100 and have the highest CF of 93%.
All of this is a no brainer so what’s their problem?
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Their problem is that they want power over how we live and what we do. Their ideal seems to be something like East Germany in about 1960.
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Small scale batteries on the grid are going to be a nightmare to manage.
Hopefully ALL battery preservation settings are under the control of the homeowner and NOT the grid supplier. Imagine if they could change the settings to allow a discharge lower limit of zero percent. The battery manufacturer may not like that and may even void your warranty. If they can’t adjust the settings, then you could set them so that the grid could never take the power, (voiding the VPP), clearly that will be changed. How dare you take the government coin and not pay with your soul?
So who pays when the battery fails? I think we know the answer to that, it’s just that Bowen will never say it out aloud. Besides, he’ll just prattle on about how cheap the wholesale price is, he’s either too thick to know the difference between wholesale and domestic retail or he’s just too thick for the job. Maybe both.
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Knew a Mr Chin once, Marcus, came from Malaysia though. The article is focused on China, rightly so , but the potential hacker could even be North Korean, Venezuelan, Russian etc. The fact that these inverters are mostly made in China doesn’t mean they have a monopoly on their function. But maybe I’m reading too much into it. One thing for sure, you can’t trust the Chinese, ask Mack Horton the Australian Olympic swimmer.
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Not a problem. Use Utopia’s brilliant nod system.
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Isn’t China attacking with you dangerous poisonous C02?
Oh wait, theirs is ok.
China’s CO2 is naturally occurring as result of European colonialism.
So it has to be allowed.
Bovine flatulence is also naturally occurring but the result of European colonialists’ barbequeism.
So it can’t be allowed because it’s culturally European.
Europe is where bad isams originated.
But new non-colonial acceptable isms are arriving everyday by boat.
Maybe China can just start doing CO2 acknowledgements.
Acknowledgements are when you have no intention of stopping or giving anything of value back.
The are like taxes in that way.
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Also we are constantly told by the meejia and gerbil warming evangelists that Chyna is a developing country…. never mind that Chyna has a space program!
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The technology debate breaks down into two separate issues:
1. AEMO is struggling to maintain grid stability, as more inverter based renewables are added to the grid. Having determined minimum levels of synchronous power needed to maintain that grid stability, its ability to maintain grid stability is determined by the responsiveness of renewable generators to AEMO directions to curtail renewable output.
Unfortunately, rooftop solar output to the grid is unregulated. So AEMO have been pushing for State governments to mandate the installation of smart inverters for all domestic rooftop solar PV installations. Of course, the “pitch” will be that these smart inverters allow households to accurately determine how much electricity their solar PV systems generate, their own appliances consume, and how much electricity gets shipped to the grid. In addition to turning off solar energy to the grid, AEMO will then have the ability to reach into your house and turn off “smart” devices like air conditioning or heating, if the demand on the grid in summer or winter is too high. Of course, AEMO will insist that consumers pay for this upgrade!
2. Recent media reports from the US suggest that suspicious “communication devices” have been found inside solar PV inverters made in China:
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/
This Reuters article also points out that similar “communication devices” have been found in Chinese made batteries!
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/05/29/chinese-hold-on-solar-power-tech-raises-fresh-sabotage-fears-in-europe/
As the second article points out, “the communication devices that were embedded in solar farm gear were not shown on schematics and customer information of the products”. That article goes on to point out that “in 2023, 78% of all inverters installed in Europe came from Chinese vendors, with the overwhelming majority being made by Huawei and SunGrow”. The cyber security threat doesn’t get any clearer than that statement!
People wonder why the Federal government refused to allow Huawei to compete in Australia’s 5G roll out. It seems Huawei has worked out how to get around this government policy.
Did anyone notice our PM voicing concerns about Chinese cyber security threats in his recent policy announcement on subsidies for household batteries for all households that have solar panels?
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Anyone who thinks my first point above is too far fetched may have missed this recent post at Climate Depot:
https://www.climatedepot.com/2025/08/12/ceo-of-california-utility-brags-that-ai-will-remotely-control-your-appliances-drain-your-ev-battery-to-smooth-demand-beware-the-smart-grid-will-automatically-turn-off-your-air-conditioner/
You thought electricity was a utility! Apparently, we are the problem for those who are trying to build a renewables only grid.
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i read this green grift disaster scenario about Australia and it is hard to wrap one’s ears around, and there’s then NY and CA. A run amuck situation. Where are we going with this and why?
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If one is in New York or California one is going to Florida, Texas or Tennessee.
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https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/black-coal-wins-csiro-report-reveals-the-cheapest-form-of-power/ar-AA1KrF7x?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=689d16f4353b409ea35446cbc7116d9f&ei=12
At last, CSIRO makes sense.
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Thanks Ronin and Zoe Hilton was on the Bolt Report last night explaining why the CSIRO are clueless and are still fudging the data.
Here’s the video link with Andrew and Zoe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io9VE3knu3M
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It’s not only hostile foreign powers we have to worry about.
As Australia descends further into dictatorship, we have to worry about our own hostile Government as well.
The current communist PM Albanese and his Government and the Left in general are obsessed with China and will no doubt adopt many of their policies such as Social Credit scores.
If you are deemed to have committed thought crimes, the Government could use the remote control capability of your solar panels and battery to restrict the amount of power you are entitled to. Particularly anti-regime thoughts might even result in your power being cut off. And of course, your thoughts will be readily discernable by Big Brother as the e Safety Kommissar wants to implement full digital verified identities against your social media accounts.
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Asbestos pollies too then…
Forget grid-tie and rebates, look after #1, have independent (of the grid) power and you can forget about VPP and propping up the renewables circus.
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Precisely JC – I don’t have solar panels, I don’t have or want a battery, I dont have an EV that can be used as a support to the electrical grid. I do have the electricity that comes through a wire and when that is shut down due to supply issues (which already happens whenever the weather blows down trees) – I have my Diesel generator and a plentiful supply of diesel. That’s independence. Yes they can probably shut my supply down via a smart meter – but I just crank up the generator.
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And if you have a watercooled diesel, you can harvest the hot water too.
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If you have a diesel generator in Melbourne you might want to run extension leads to your neighbours to pacify them as diesel gennies can be noisy. I have an off grid system and the diesel generator is in the workshop 140m from the house and I’m very happy it is so far away. There is a red strobe light attached to it so I know when it is running.
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Sounds like you have a good setup Pat. Inaudible power isn’t always available but you do what you need to do.
I like the idea of consulting neighbours for two reasons. Firstly, it keeps the lights on and secondly it encourages discussions to maintain power to all parties who are on board.
As a resident of the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, I recently bought a power pack from Jaycar to help with outages. It’s a good backup but wouldn’t be relied on heavily during protracted outages.
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We also have a petrol generator. Also, three propane gas bottles to support the Weber bbq..Plus several battery radios which receive from the world over. The main issue with no electricity in this household would be keeping fridge and freezer cold for a couple of weeks. Next item to consider is water supply in case of apocalypse 🙂
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Canberra has no regard for the serfs. It is commanded by the UN. Sovereignty has been handed to the UN’s authority hungry bureaucrats all without any accountability.
The problem is that the LNP does not offer an alternative. They see the immorality of the UN push for power but are not vocal in condemning it.
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“The problem is that the LNP does not offer an alternative.”
They certainly don’t with Sussssan at the helm, maybe we’ll get lucky and someone worthy will step up.
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“Canberra has no regard for the serfs.”
No, they don’t.
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The cyber security threat is small change compared with turning manufacturing over to China. The cyber security threat is just one tiny element of the risk. The ability to manage that risk is compromised by no Australian actually understanding how the stuff works because it was all made in China.
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The tiny trojan horse transmitters in our solar panels are of course a concern as is our ever growing reliance on China for manufactured goods. Manufacturing as well as other industrial activities such as smelting are declining due to increased energy prices and unreliability. As the government presses on with its pursuit of renewables targets, the situation will only get worse. We now seem to be entering a period of limbo as uptake of wind turbine projects slow, transmission lines aren’t getting built and the Snowy 2.O costs and deadline continue to blow out.
But hardly anyone in the MSM will talk about it. Renewables ain’t going to cut it and we look sideways at sources of reliable base load power as if they’re some ghastly thing that shouldn’t be touched.
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None of this was necessary. The latest weekly atmospheric CO2 concentration figures for the Mauna Loa Observatory from the Scripps Institute cover the period 29 March 1958, 316.19 ppm, to 02 August 2025, 425.89 ppm. The rate of increase in CO2 has risen at a steady rate from 0.705 ppm pa for the 5 year interval 29 March 1958 to 23 March 1963 to a maximum of 2.97 ppm pa for the five year period 01 August 2020 to 02 August 2025, an increase by a factor of 4.2.
As the Observatory is in the central North Pacific Ocean thousands of kilometers from major human habitation and industrial areas it shows that Net Zero has had no measurable effect on the atmospheric CO2 concentration. It is the result of the Earth’s recovery from the Little Ice Age at about 1600 to 1850 and the balance between the source and sinks of the CO2. The solubility of the gas increases with decreasing temperature so the Polar regions are the sinks and the Equatorial region is the source. Furthermore the small Polar regions only experience a minor temperature increase as the Sun’s radiation intensity increases while the much larger Equatorial region has the greatest temperature increase enhancing the source increase relative to the sinks.
One might think that the Federal Government has been grossly incompetent but I suggest it has been a deliberate attempt to destroy our Nation in preparation for a Communist take-over. As I showed in yesterday’s comment, there is no CO2 induced “Greenhouse Effect”. It is a ploy to destroy capitalism and democracy.
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“One might think that the Federal Government has been grossly incompetent but I suggest it has been a deliberate attempt to destroy our Nation in preparation for a Communist take-over. As I showed in yesterday’s comment, there is no CO2 induced “Greenhouse Effect”. It is a ploy to destroy capitalism and democracy.”
Bevan, that echoes my thoughts here in the UK.
It is the Duck Rule – “If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck – it very probably is a duck.”
And the actions of our Government [UK & Australia, and others] seem intended to – at the very least – hugely change our societies [without electoral approval], and, probably ‘destroy our Nation in preparation for a Communist take-over’.
Individuals must make their own assessments, but I know what I think.
There are some fellow travellers, but a significant part of [here] Westminster and Whitehall appears to be working for the people … of China.
Auto
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I guess we Commonwealth members are entitled to say “for duck’s sake, look after us and not the Communists”.
Perhaps it should be The Commiewealth, Albo and Starmer’s wet dream. Take the blue and white out of the Union Jack and the Australian flag- just leave the red.
*Any questioning of the democratic system in either nation will automatically be recognised as misinformation as per the entitlement bestowed on the respective democratically elected leaders.*
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Bevan, no mention that the Mauna Loa Observatory is but some 50Km from the Mt Kilauea volcano that has been erupting almost continuously since 1964. Is there any allowance made in their data for that naturally occurring emission output?
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Absolutely. Such thoughts attract claims from the Left of being a “conspiracy theorist” but after TRUMP and other revelations such as the Twitter files, we discovered all those supposed conspiracy theories were actually true. The truth had been suppressed by the Left.
And when I or others call Albanese a communist, it is no exaggeration:
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People need to research the founded late 1800s UK Fabian Society of Marxists, still operating today and here the Australian Fabian Society favoured by Australian Labor Party members.
And the background history of the United Nations created just after World War Two and infiltrated by the left side of politics. An example being Australian Labor (Communist) Attorney General Evatt a lawyer who provided a recommendation that was adopted, member nations to sign and many treaties and agreements as possible legislated and regulated by governments to get around constitutional laws and provide governments with the power to implement UN objectives without referendum to ask citizens to approve.
Examples;
Lima Protocol/Declaration signed 1975 Whitlam Labor
Agenda 21 signed Hawke or Keating Labor late 1980s.
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Also, the Lucis Trust, formerly known as the Lucifer Publishing Company, has a special consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Just sayin’.
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There is a rumour going around that Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetary in North London, England, is really a Communist Plot.
I wonder whether Albo would agree and wonder what insciption would be suitable for Albo’s headstone when he is dead and buried.
Maybe “He came, he saw and he tried his best to destroy a freedom loving Nation”.
Now that would be quite appropriate after Australia finally wakes up and kicks out the Marxists/Communists.
We can only hope that sanity prevails.
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I’ve heard that Eachway albo won 94 seats on the same margin that lost Bill Shorten the unlosable election.
How does that work.
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Whenever I see an attack on China, I now just assume the article originate in the US deep state.
If only they had the same interest in Israelis committing genocide … it would be over in days.
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President Xi, and Hamas, thanks you for your support. 😉
Seriously Mike, can China do no wrong? Am I a tool of the US Deep State, and if so, why did they let me post all those sordid details about DOGE and USAID grift and graft?
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And do not forget who – or is that Hoo – makes the ‘smart’ meters that they want to force us to have so we can all be shut down remotely when the government ruled grid runs out of power due to their incompetence.
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