I am the same as Colin ,and from Australia too, wonder whether there's something in that. Mine started last week.
I've tried numerous webbrowsers, clean caches, prayed, sworn and even made an empty threat or two ..
But it's worse than dial up, and more painful than listening to a footballer gave a post game match analysis.
I have the problem if I use free wifi at a shopping centre, McDonalds, hardware store, or using the internet dongle/ phone for my internet.
Maccas has really good wifi and it isn't slow.
I tried to reload the new posts just then and it didn't work. I got a screen shot and at the bottom is a thing saying "waiting for logger adthrive.com"
@Colin has very low internet speed...it's not the forum software causing his problem. He needs to get faster internet service. Or perhaps if problem is on his cellphone, perhaps he is too far away from a cell tower. You can check your internet speed via a site like speedtest.net here in the US or another site in Australia.