Lady Thatcher (1925-2013), who has just passed away in London, made a particular point of attending the central event of the Australia Week celebrations in 2000. It is said of Lady Thatcher, that she of all politicians was known for exactly what she believed in and that moreover that she unswervingly followed those beliefs. Her attendance indicated her strong belief and appreciation of our country, our traditions, our values, our institutions and our successes, as well as our great contributions to the Commonwealth, the English speaking countries and indeed, to freedom itself. This is short anecdote concerning the event relayed to 2GB's Alan Jones.

On Foxtel's Sky News programme "Richo" on 3 April 2013 Opposition leader Tony Abbott faced tough questioning from Graham Richardson and 2GB's Alan Jones, ranging over renewable energy and CSG mining on prime agricultural land as well as superannuation changes.

Why is NSW Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell siding with the Gillard government and Attorney General Nicola Roxon in proposing further restrictions on free speech? Why is Alan Jones to be called before the inquiry Premier O’Farrell set up? To find the answers, Andrew Moore interviewed Alan Jones on 2GB on 16 January 2012.

In an interview with Alan Jones broadcast on 2GB on 12 December 2012 the NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, the Premier said he was bound by coal seam gas (CSG) licences and exploration rights on prime agricultural and urban land and even near major dam catchment areas granted by the previous Labor government. If he did, he says, the government would be liable to pay massive compensation. Now in this interview broadcast on 14 December 2012 Alan Jones speaks to CANdo’s Professor David Flint. Flint argues that there is no constitutional or legal barrier to stop the Premier from acting in the way the voters at the last election expected. Parliament, he says, could stop these activities. Indeed he wonders why Parliament did not enact immediately after the last election a Protection of Prime Agricultural and Urban Land (including Water Catchments) Act, 2011 It will be said that if such a law empowered the government to act acts, investors would lose confidence. Some CSG miners who are lusting after prime agricultural land and urban land will. But this is only because the land is close to infrastructure. Infrastructure funded by the taxpayers. Do we really need them? The country is sitting on a sea of CSG – so why don’t they leave prime agricultural land to future generations? Governments –especially in NSW and Queensland – will be more and more on the nose if they don’t do what they were elected for. More evidence – if there need be – for the people to be empowered with the tools of direct democracy.

You think you own the dream property you scrimped to buy? That if it has to be taken for some public purpose, at least you will get fair compensation. Only Marxist, communist states take property without compensation. And that doesn’t happen in Australia . Not in our democracy. Well it does. Beware – governments can effectively steal your property, and give you nothing in return. Not only can they do this, they are doing it now along the New South Wales coast. Another reason why the people must be empowered to make our politicians accountable more than only once in every three or four years. They have to be made accountable on every day, of every week, and of every month. As they are in some other countries. All this is happening in the twenty first century in New South Wales as local councils rezone land as E2 and E3 zones under Local Environmental Plans (LEP’s)authorised by the NSW Parliament under previous Labor governments. The Coalition government has not been in a hurry to reverse this. The agenda is not to protect pristine undeveloped land. It’s to sterilize existing agricultural or developed land, eventually to remove all human activity,including farming and tourism. And who is to pay? It’s the landowners – they’re to lose the use of their property, and there will be no compensation on just terms. And as vast tracts of privately owned land are frozen, governments have decided to cram even more people into high rise developments in our overcrowded cities. Urban consolidation led by big developers is being encouraged. It’s an alliance we have seen in the United States – politicians, often claiming to be on the left, enriching themselves and working with wealthy forces against farmers and small business people, forcing them into overcrowded cities. In New South Wales, some farmers have found that if they leave a field fallow, they have to spend thousands of dollars to seek bureaucratic approval just to use their land again. Property values have been slashed, banks refuse to lend and nobody will buy. You can’t clear regrowth to minimize bushfire risks. Take one example. Bernard and Rikki Grinberg’s Ballina Beach Village is a small business and small businesses are the biggest source of employment in the country. But the politicians have targeted small business like these, limiting their plans to employ young people, and threatening their viability. As Rikki Grinberg explains here, the Ballina Beach Village was inexplicably rezoned E2 and although there is an existing use exemption, “every time they want to change anything, whether it is to use crockery at their kiosk, hire a singer to play in their piano bar, renovate the interior of an old shed to turn it into a yoga studio, even trim a branch off a termite-infested tree that might fall on a tent, they have to submit a development application and prove to Ballina Shire Council they are not “intensifying” the use of their land.” ( Miranda Devine in The Daily Telegraph 28 July 2012) They have spent enormous sums on lawyers and town planners just to keep their business. It's wrong. It's undemocratic. It’s un-Australian. And it's happening now. We must stop it. All of us - or we will suffer too.

Caught out trying to stop the funding of troops flying home for Christmas – while ministers fly the world first class going to nothing more than photo opportunities - the Gillard Government has worked out a new way to run down our defences. Now they’re putting the boot into those patriotic school boys and school girls who have volunteered as cadets. There are around 14,000 of them. Now among the core functions of government are the defence of the realm and securing our borders. On both counts this Gillard government has failed. They’ve reduced defence spending to the disastrous levels which prevailed when we went, unprepared, into the Second World War. They’ve thrown the borders open to illegal immigrants who are housed by the taxpayer, who invite in their relatives and most of whom are unemployed and on welfare even after five years here. Among some groups the employment rate is less than 10%. The Gillard government has showered the world with so called “aid” to buy a next to useless seat on the United Nations Security Council so Julia Gillard, Bob Carr and even Kevin Rudd can grandstand in New York. They are cutting by almost one third the allowances for supervising staff, the cadets exchange program has been cancelled, and funding for national and regional activities dropped. This is an unbelievably petty attack on the youth of our country. It's not as bad as the Whitlam government’s arrogant decision to disband the cadets but it's coming close to it. And this from a government which throws around billions of dollars, losing, for example, several billion dollars on the so-called Building the Education Revolution.

Four polls came out today and Labor is celebrating. Prematurely I think. Of the four, Newspoll alone gives Labor any comfort. Perhaps Mr. O’Shaughnessy should have run it again. Newpoll puts the two parties equal at 50:50. This is an improbable - but not impossible jump from last time. This result was 45: 50 in favour of the Coalition. What makes it look like a rogue poll is that all the other polls say the Coalition would win at least comfortably, although there is a warning in one aspect of Morgan. Newspoll says Julia Gillard is easily preferred as prime minister, rising from 39:38 to 46:32. Her disapproval rating fell 5 points from 57 to 52, and her approval rating rose similarly from 31 to to 36. Tony Abbott’s hardly changed – falling one point to an approval rating of 30% and rising up one on his disapproval rating to 60%. Nielsen says the Coalition prevails comfortably in the two party preferred 53:47. Worse for the government, Labor friendly Essential agrees but at 55:45. Roy Morgan comes in with a finding in favour of the Coalition at 53.5-46.5. Unlike the other polls Morgan is face-to face. Also Morgan actually asks people how they would apply their preferences. Everybody else applies them as in the last election. If Morgan did this, the coalition lead would fall to 50.5:49.5, closer to Newspoll. Neilson also found that if Kevin Rudd replaced Julia Gillard, Labor would prevail over the coalition, 53: 47. This result is unlikely to be followed in an election. Were the ALP to overthrow Julia Gillard and return to Kevin Rudd, the Coalition would campaign on the many very vicious attacks on the public record made on Kevin Rudd by his own front bench during his last challenge. He would become the issue in any election. Neilson also found that Malcolm Turnbull, who is by far Labor voters preferred Liberal, is now also preferred by Liberal voters 53: 45. In the last poll Tony Abbott was preferred by Liberal voters by a close 50:49. It’s unlikely this will affect the Liberal backbench - unless the polls indicate, over time, that Labor would win. And the crucial measure is the two party preferred, not who is the most popular leader. This is not America. These polls probably entrench Ms. Gillard in the Labor leadership. The caucus would have to be desperate to change leaders now, and Newspoll gives them hope. In the unlikely event that Newspoll’s conclusions hold and are followed in the other polls - and this continues over a few months - an early election is on the cards.

Congratulations. People power - including the petition many of you signed on this site - has worked. The government has taken notice of your message to stop kicking our soldiers, sailors and airmen in the guts. They've given in – they've reinstated free flights home for single defence personnel over 21. Opposition spokesman Stuart Robinson MP says it's an embarrassing back flip for the government. He moved a motion in the House to disallow the regulations, and the government caved in. Now, he says, Australian sailors, soldiers and airmen and women can plan their leave While the budget measure was aimed at single defence personnel over 21, it was clear from what was being said that the Gillard government had younger and married personnel in their sights. This was decided while ministers and bureaucrats were happy to fly the world in first or business class, staying in five-star accommodation for talkfests, the communiqués for which have been written in advance. These important meetings are too often no more than photo opportunities for government propaganda. And the Gillard government is still kicking our defenders in the guts. Plans to properly equip and upgrade the service have been set aside – the Gillard government has slashed defence spending down to the levels applying before the Second World War. Surely it's time that the Australian people were given the right to petition for a recall election government which is failing them