Eric Wang - COCOA

Democracy cant exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from ze public treasury

[NoMoreGulags @FreedomAus80100]

Latest credit card bills from Parliamentarians for just last quarter 

Anika $300k
Faruqi $150k
Bowen $450k

Items include first class flights, $2,000 dinners & $1,500 wines.

[Sky News Australia @SkyNewsAust]

A Sydney councillor has called for the return of Australia Day celebrations at Bondi Beach, taking aim at the "disease of political correctness" surrounding the event.

https://t.co/LFkopUB5hS

[John Anderson AC @JohnAndersonAC]

Chris Uhlmann delivers a forensic takedown of Australia's energy transition ��� arguing that for the first time in human history, a civilisation has chosen to move backwards to inferior energy sources.

From his grandfather's Queensland childhood to the moon landing, Uhlmann traces the extraordinary wealth fossil fuels created, then asks why Australia is dismantling the system that built it.

[David McMahon @David_McMahon75]

I am sick of the government and tax academics gaslighting us on this 30% minimum CGT. Their argument is that people are engaging in some kind of "tax avoidance" by accumulating assets through their lives, deferring those gains and selling near retirement when their marginal tax rate is much lower.

This is a spectacularly stupid argument. People sell assets later in life not because they are engaging in some kind of elaborate tax dodge. Most of the time it's because that's when they need the money. This is basically just how long-term savings works.

Similarly, if someone starts a small business and then sells it later in life to fund their living expenses, they are not engaging in tax avoidance. They were just deferring consumption. This stuff should be obvious.

[Luke Gromen @LukeGromen]

Gold/Oil ratio (GoR), log scale.

Red arrow starts at date of Putin's Feb-2007 Munich speech. 24 months later, PBOC published an essay "Reform the International Monetary System" calling for a neutral reserve asset.

Consensus = GoR will mean revert; this chart argues it may not.

[Marko Matvikov @MarkoMatvikov]

Small business owner, builder and investor here 🙋‍♂️

Taxation absolutely influences my investment decisions.

So much so that I’ve defaulted to storing my cash in my home offset account for the foreseeable future.

Because nothing is currently better than saving 6-7% p.a. interest tax-free, risk-free and effort-free.

This equates to a 12-14% p.a. risk-and-effort-free equivalent return – good luck finding that in Australia.

For it to be worth me building homes, I’d need to make 20-30% on an annualised basis before applicable taxes – and that isn't happening anytime soon.

And apparently, our government wants more housing to be built...

[Marko Matvikov @MarkoMatvikov]

Miranda Stewart’s career is limited to working for the University of Melbourne and the Australian Taxation Office.

She’s never run a startup, raised venture capital or had to risk her own money to pay a workforce.

Miranda claims “founders won’t leave” despite evidence to the contrary:

• California just recorded $1.5t of capital loss as wealthy founders anticipated the introduction of a wealth tax – forcing the government to cancel its plans for it

• Norway lost $84b in private assets after the introduction of a wealth tax – the government expected it to raise over $200m per year, instead losing over $900m per year

• The United Kingdom hiked its capital gains tax on shares by 4% - resulting in capital gains tax revenue plummeting from $33b in 2023 to $26b by 2025

When countries treat founders, investors and builders as tax cattle, many do leave – you’re talking about the most ambitious and action-oriented people in society.

Not all, not always, and not just because of tax.

But when social cohesion is fraying, the system feels unfair and government isn’t holding up its end of the bargain, punitive taxes are just another reason to consider your options.

So as our country continues to get poorer because people like Albo and Chalmers sit in echo chambers filled with people like Miranda – remember who to blame.

If you’re still here.

[▪️▫️DAVID▪️▫️ @turtlemagpies]

Check out this train wreck of an interview by Jacinta Allan.

She is totally & utterly cooked.

Her position is untenable as Premier of Victoria as Minister responsible for the Big Build corruption.

Ditch this contemptuous liar on Nov 28 with the rest of her hacks in Victoria

[Geoff Wilson @GeoffWilsonWAM]

Thank you @AuSenate for inviting me. Unfortunately you failed to invite other worthy participants.The CGT must be stopped! The Aspiration Tax must be stopped. ‘Illogical’: Australians urged to ‘fight against’ Labor’s CGT changes https://t.co/aiU8uX07lM via @YouTube

[Mick Wallace 🏇 @MickWallaceMail]

Hahaha

[Tommy Lee @TommyDeepwater]

Higher crude prices help oil major budgets, but none of the visible multiyear deepwater floater awards are at risk if SoH crisis slowly resolves, as these projects have been years in the making.

SoH hasn't directly affected deepwater, though 2028-2030 Brent futures up $5-10/bbl is positive to see as longer cycle barrels help replenish SPR's.

In late 2025/early 2026, Brent futures for 2028-2030 were in the $63 to $66/bbl range -- not great prices but today we're in the low-to-mid $70's which reduces risk of project slippage. Deepwater also supports the global LNG market, which has benefited from significant project outages.

(2) Shell announced the Merlin-1 light oil discovery in Namibia this week, reviving its outlook in the country. It's early but optimism exists on this discovery's potential. Interestingly, the Shell press release noted Merlin targeted a Coniacian-age play, a different age interval from the prior Venus (Total), Mopane (Galp) and Capricornus (Rhino/Azule) discoveries. This demonstrates how large and underexplored Namibia's deepwater remains, with many prospects still untested. There's YEARS of exploration remaining in Namibia.

Namibia is often compared to Guyana in terms of emerging oil producers from deepwater sources, and while it will be very difficult for Namibia to replicate Guyana's success of ~1.5 million bpd FPSO capacity and growing, Shell's Merlin discovery increases the likelihood of a development although still requires further appraisal and evaluation. Namibia has yet to have a project sanctioned, although should be coming soon with TotalEnergies' Venus.

(3) $NOL.OL Northern Ocean’s (picture) Deepsea Mira was the semisub drilling the Merlin-1 exploration well. Northern Ocean is a single rig company that trades on the Oslo Exchange with a ~$349mm enterprise value as of June 12, 2026.

Northern Ocean sold Deepsea Bollsta to Odfjell Drilling for $480mm in late 2025. NOL has since paid down $441mm of debt, representing a substantial improvement on the balance sheet although $100mm of a related party note remains.

Mira has been drilling exploration and appraisal (E&A) wells in Namibia in recent years. While Mira could potentially work in Norway in the future, it has mostly remained in southwest Africa doing shorter-term E&A work. Accordingly, the market has been and will remain competitive while awaiting Namibia's transition from exploration to development drilling with longer-term contracts—though that work likely won't begin until late 2027.

There's various E&A programs in the region Mira is capable of working, including the TotalEnergies/Galp 2-3 well PEL 83/Mopane campaign to begin in 2H26, but the big award to watch will be the potential TotalEnergies Venus tender for two rigs on multiyear terms for late 2027-early 2028.

There will be competing rigs for this tender, which will also include drillships. This region can be harsh environment during certain periods of the year, although drillships remain capable. It will be interesting to see if TotalEnergies chooses a capable harsh environment semisub like Mira for this work. Even if not, there will likely be other multiyear term work in the region but will require some patience.

[Ben Thompson @bnthompson]

As an employment lawyer & entrepreneur who’s built a business employing hundreds, I call bullshit on scrapping the CGT discount in the name of ‘fairness’.
Labor claims it’s about ‘balancing labour and capital’ yet politicians, public servants and academics get taxpayer-funded super at 15.4–17%, while private sector workers get just 12%.
Their excuse? ‘It’s part of their package.’ So why punish risk-takers and job creators, but protect special tax incentives for the political class? Chalmers, Albo - care to explain?

[Marko Matvikov @MarkoMatvikov]

What’s most interesting about Labor’s attack-ad fundraising isn’t the success of the One Nation response.

It’s the contrast.

Transparent grassroots fundraising on one side - with immediate voluntary audits when questioned.

Undisclosed funding on the other - while accusing opponents of being secretly controlled by wealthy donors.

Textbook hypocrisy.

[Sky News Australia @SkyNewsAust]

Embattled Sports Minister Anika Wells will not attend the FIFA World Cup in the United States, after she was ordered to pay back taxpayers thousands of dollars following a probe into expenses.

https://t.co/EQvXTDrKIa

[Graham Young @GrahamY]

Nuclear is the fuel of the future, and Labor is the party of the past. We've used wind and sun for millennia, but today there are better technologies. But Chris Bowen can't see it because he can't admit he's wrong, just like every other legacy entrepreneur who've been sent broke by new technologies.

[Ryan Dally @Ryandally08]

ALBO’S AUDACITY: PM Begs Struggling Aussies for Cash After Blowing $450M on Failed Voice!

The absolute nerve of this Prime Minister.

Albanese is pocketing over $600,000 a year, yet he is actively begging poor Australians for money to fund a Labor political hit job against Pauline Hanson.

This shameless cash grab comes right after he blew $450,000,000 of your taxpayer dollars on a divisive, failed referendum.

While 28 million Australians are drowning in a brutal cost of living crisis, an elite politician on a massive salary is digital panhandling to bankroll his own campaign.

It is out of touch, hypocritical, and utterly disgusting.

[Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 @PaulineHansonOz]

I’ve been called so many things over my career, it’s water off a ducks back now.

If some mean words are enough to shock a “leader”, how can they be trusted to run a state with millions of people?

Peoples lives are in politicians hands. We’ve got more important things to fix right now for the Australian people than being called mean names.

[Marko Matvikov @MarkoMatvikov]

Jacinta Allan is the least popular premier in the country and among the least popular political leaders across all jurisdictions in this nation’s history.

This confected outrage has nothing to do with sexism and is just another desperate attempt to deflect from her ongoing failures - in keeping with her despicable character.

And while this vile career politician plays victim over a mobile billboard, her policies have led to countless actual innocent victims whose suffering should not be in vain.

[Jay Martin @JayMartinBC]

I sat down with Peter Alexander, founder and managing director of Z-Ben Advisors, for an amazing conversation on China’s real position in the global economy.
Peter has lived in Shanghai for nearly 30 years, and brings his unique perspective from inside the country on how Western narratives on China often miss the deeper story and much more.

[🇦🇺Craig Tindale @ctindale]

50% !