Category: Informed Comment

Informed Comment

This changes everything, from the world stage to polling booths far from the fatal steppes – Michael West Media

There is a Murdoch/Russian Coalition in America and a Morrison /Murdoch one here. Will it be ignored and kept under wraps?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a disaster for more than 40 million people, a threat to Europe, a challenge to the US and a catastrophe for the world. It’s hard to imagine that Vladimir Putin’s war, while just about as far away from Australia as any world event could be, would have no bearing on the thoughts of voters in the expected May election. And it’s clear we were already gearing for a security election.

The Coalition has installed one of its head-kickers, Peter Dutton, in the Defence post and his warnings are as much about the dangers of a Labor government as any foreign foe. The government has stooped to describing Labor leader Anthony Albanese as China’s preferred Australian leader and deputy Labor leader Richard Marles as the Manchurian candidate.

 

Source: This changes everything, from the world stage to polling booths far from the fatal steppes – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

This is how we defeat Putin and other petrostate autocrats | Bill McKibben | The Guardian

Wind turbines that are part of a wind farm are seen from a beach at sunset.

Hey Morrison you want to shirt-front Putin?

After Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, America turned its industrial prowess to building tanks, bombers and destroyers. Now, we must respond with renewables

Source: This is how we defeat Putin and other petrostate autocrats | Bill McKibben | The Guardian

Informed Comment

What a complete waste of time the last nine years have been – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Real Facts

Unlike the rest of the world, Australia had come through the GFC without suffering a recession. At the end of August, net debt was a bit over $161 billion and monthly hours worked per employed person averaged 141.42. After three terms of a Coalition government, we have endured our first recession in thirty years, net debt is $606 billion, and monthly hours worked per employed person have plummeted to 125.16. Wages are stagnant- adjusted for inflation, Australian wages actually declined in 2021 by 0.3% – the worst outcome in 7.5 years. Penalty rates have been abolished for many low paid workers, and casual and contract work is increasingly the norm. In 2013, the rollout of the nation-building fibre to the premises national broadband network was underway. Then along came Tony Abbott who thought the interwebby thingy was an expensive white elephant only used for playing games and watching videos – and trashed it. On Thursday, the Minister for the Digital Economy, the hapless Jane Hume, announced in an address to CEDA, “The Morrison Government has set a goal and is unrolling a plan for Australia to be a top 10 digital economy and society by 2030.” Good luck with that – we currently

Source: What a complete waste of time the last nine years have been – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Minerals and petroleum lobbies are not taxpayers (but guess who subsidises them?) – Michael West Media

Morrison has no interest in hard Economics and Murdoch media certainly don’t pay attention to the harsh realities. Between them they have reduced politics to Culture wars. Currently Transgender children in Sport is Morrison’s issue when not a single transgender person has won a medal in the Olympics. Or any child run away with all the medals up for grabs, ruined any sporting event, or is in danger of doing so. However, as always Morrison loves fuelling politicizing bigotry and steering away from the material and econimic realities of our  world. He believes  in holding onto the minority of racists, ethnic, religious, cultural, and anti-welfare bigots and to have them put on their pillow-case hoods and swing his way even if he doesn’t help their hip pockets. Fuelling emotions is a distraction from economic reality mismanaged.

It’s a phenomenon more commonly attributed to ”banana republics”. Our government is helping the resources lobby even as it works against the interests of the nation and the planet. Stephanie Tran examines the influence of energy lobby giants as they intensify efforts to delay Australia’s embrace of clean energy.

Source: Minerals and petroleum lobbies are not taxpayers (but guess who subsidises them?) – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Stop Pretending the Left Is on Putin’s Side

Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison slag Albo off as a red under the bed, Yet, the ALP don’t cozy up to Murdoch’s global propaganda empire which is currently Russia’s State Media in America. They’re the biggest platform and supportive voice for Putin and his lover DJ Trump in the U.S. Murdoch isn’t the ALP’s PR agent in Australia and hasn’r invested vast amounts of money with them as they have L-NP  in Australia. Has anyone noticed Scott Morrison banned 25 Russians from coming here but is spending some part of a $680 Mill  advertising war chest with Russian supporter Murdoch Media?

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is based on obviously reactionary pretexts. The Left has nothing to do with his agenda — and should make no apologies for opposing a US military response.

Source: Stop Pretending the Left Is on Putin’s Side

Informed Comment

Republicans pick Putin over democracy — and Rick Scott’s creepy blueprint for America shows why | Salon.com

Steve Bannon, Rick Scott, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

both GOP’s de facto leader, Donald Trump, and their de facto party agenda-setter, Tucker Carlson, have been out there making their love and support of Putin known. As with every internal conflict in the GOP, the smart bet is the Trumpian wing will win over the traditional conservatives, even though it once again means that Republicans will be siding against America and democracy in favor of the forces of authoritarianism.

Source: Republicans pick Putin over democracy — and Rick Scott’s creepy blueprint for America shows why | Salon.com

Informed Comment

Eight sobering realities about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Ukrainian military service members guard a road in Kyiv Ukrainian military service members guard a road that leads to a government block, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

8. What is Putin really after? Not just keeping Ukraine out of Nato, because Nato itself isn’t Putin’s biggest worry. After all, Hungary and Poland are Nato members but are governed in ways that resemble Russia more than western democracies. Putin’s real fear is liberal democracy, which poses a direct threat to authoritarian “strongmen” like him (just as it did to Donald Trump). Putin wants to keep liberal democracy far away from Russia. Putin’s means of keeping western liberal democracy at bay isn’t just to invade Ukraine, of course. It’s also to stoke division inside the west by fueling racist nationalism in western Europe and the United States. In this, Trump and Trumpism continue to be Putin’s most important ally.

Source: Eight sobering realities about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Informed Comment

The Albanese approach: How an unpopular plan has Labor on the verge of victory

We are not ashamed to admit that at our last meeting with the Labor strategist, we were unconvinced that this slow, steady and largely uneventful approach by Labor would reap rewards. It has also sometimes been unpopular with their base. But if it is true that opposition parties don’t win elections but governments lose them and since, more than ever before, Australia’s establishment media fails to hold this Government to account, Labor’s strategy appears sound. Of course, whether it succeeds in unseating the Morrison Government remains to be seen.

Source: The Albanese approach: How an unpopular plan has Labor on the verge of victory

Informed Comment

Late on your tax? One rule for the small guy, another for Lendlease and the Big End of Town – Michael West Media

Lendlease, tax, ATO

So, we had a call the other day from a nice woman at the Tax Office, or it might have been an outsourced call centre. In any case, there was apparently a late BAS statement or something, and we – that is the small business which operates Michael West Media – was in danger of incurring a fine. Michael West reports on the gaping double standards between government enforcement of big business and the rest.

Source: Late on your tax? One rule for the small guy, another for Lendlease and the Big End of Town – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Financial abuse costs Australia over $10 billion

Financial abuse

the L-NP, Morrison and Frydenberg, have allowed Australia to slide down the Heritage Foundation’s International corruption ladder to its lowest ever recorded score of 77.7 from 13th to 18th and going down. Any wonder they are terrified of an independent ICAC.

“Little is discussed about financial abuse in Australian society,” Deloitte behavioural economist Wing Hsieh told AAP. “The challenges of domestic and family violence have been very much at the forefront of people’s minds and particularly so in recent years.” But the specific financial abuse that often leads up to it, while related, is often not discussed. More than 400,000 women and about 200,000 men suffer financial abuse, and the cumulative impact of people being prevented from working themselves and those who later need support from government and social services costs the economy and individuals experiencing abuse more than $10 billion a year.

Source: Financial abuse costs Australia over $10 billion

Informed Comment

Desperation manifests itself in many dangerous ways – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day In view of the rise of far-right Neo conservatism I am reviewing my thoughts. ( John Lord )

Source: Desperation manifests itself in many dangerous ways – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Mainstream media blames unions for Perrottet’s train lockout

We are being sold Fake Product. Propaganda dressed as News. Why do Murdoch, Costello and Stokes get away with what Peter Foster was jailed for? FALSE PRETENCES IS FRAUD any way you spell it.

The Perrottet Government’s shutdown of the NSW rail network was mislabeled a ‘train strike’ by a compliant mainstream media, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.

ON MONDAY 21 FEBRUARY, trains in the Sydney network were cancelled by the NSW Government, causing chaos and fury amongst the millions of people dependent on the services to get them to where they needed to be. The situation was described, inaccurately, by Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields as a ‘Sydney train strike’.

Source: Mainstream media blames unions for Perrottet’s train lockout

Informed Comment

Pauline Hanson v the gas giants: who would have thought? – Michael West Media

Pauline Hanson

Elections bring on desperate changes and sometimes common sense is an accidental outcome.

So, if you want action against major gas companies controlling Australian politicians, a red-hot climate denier may still be worth some attention.

Hanson went so far as to propose a government-owned enterprise instead of paying private companies to do the same job. “If we’re going to pay $2.3 billion to secure Australia’s fuel supply, the government should buy the Brisbane refinery in Lytton and let it become an asset owned by the Commonwealth.” Hanson continually references Norway’s Sovereign Health Fund having “struck the right chord for its citizens, earning $1.5 trillion from its commodities.” “Australia, on the other hand, last year took a measly $300 million in direct payments for $50 billion worth of gas off the North West Shelf” while “the tiny nation of Qatar has a different approach. It receives around $26 billion in royalties on the gas it exports.” Qatar trades slightly less gas and hydrocarbon products than Australia.

Source: Pauline Hanson v the gas giants: who would have thought? – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Why Putin’s Denial of Ukrainian Statehood and Israel’s Denial of Palestinian Statehood are Crimes against History

(Informed Comment) – In his incendiary speech on Ukraine on Monday, Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukraine does not really exist, that it is an artificial construct of the Communist period, crafted by Vladimir Lenin. He declared, “Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood.” When I heard that, it reminded me of the Israeli propaganda line that there has never in history been a Palestine. Denying a people their right to national sovereignty today by arguing that they lacked it in the past thus seems to be a typical move of expansionist states like Russia and Israel, bent on dominating their neighbors.

Source: Why Putin’s Denial of Ukrainian Statehood and Israel’s Denial of Palestinian Statehood are Crimes against History

Informed Comment

Agent SloMo. – by John Birmingham – Alien Sideboob

At the end of his government, in the federal election of March 1983, Malcolm Fraser was so desperate to land a blow on the surging campaign of Opposition Leader Bob Hawke that he tried to fire up all the scares at once. And Hawke humiliated him by dismissing them all at once. When Fraser told a rally that “people would be better off keeping their money under the bed” if Labor won, Hawke snarked back: “But you can’t put your money under the bed… that’s where the commies are.” Anthony Albanese could learn from that. An opponent who’s being desperate and ridiculous can be easily be made to look… desperate and ridiculous.

Source: Agent SloMo. – by John Birmingham – Alien Sideboob

Informed Comment

How Scott Morrison might junk the Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield mega-bid for AGL – Michael West Media

AGL

Morrison handballed the problem of Carbon Emissions to the “free market and new technology”. Now he hates what that market is actually doing. It’s ignoring him for having done nothing and moving in the opposite direction.

Will Scott Morrison’s government block the radical AGL takeover bid by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield? It’s a deal which accelerates Australia’s decarbonisation, creates jobs, cuts energy prices, and saves AGL shareholders from a slow death, but Morrison has two regulators who can still nix it. Michael West reports.

Source: How Scott Morrison might junk the Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield mega-bid for AGL – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

A speech from saner times – Prime Minister Morrison expresses his support for China – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison’s praise of China and what he said and how our National Interests are aligned. Back then Muslims were the primary enemy within the country and whithout.

On June 26, 2019, Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivered a “major foreign policy address” at Asialink, in the lead-up to the 14th G20 Summit. Ttled “Where we live”, it outlined “our plan to foster an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific, consistent with our national interests.” The following is an excerpt from that speech: “We share…

Source: A speech from saner times – Prime Minister Morrison expresses his support for China – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Steggall takes hatchet job, but will the chickens come home to roost for major parties? – Michael West Media

political donations, AEC

Murdoch media alone has been the LN-P’s  biggest propagandist with never a hint of that being an undeclared donation. Maybe it’s “not free” but part of an undeclared quid pro quo arrangement. Where there was 2.5 years of quo and now the quids are really beginning to flow for Murdoch as his business model predicted. In vast amounts of dollars out from the L-NP.

Spooked by independents, Liberals are happy to turn the spotlight turn on their opponents on political donations. But when it comes to taking dirty money, they only need to examine their own house. Stephanie Tran reports.

Why should we care?

An election will be called in the next 90 days so there’s no doubt that political donations are ramping up now.

Clive Palmer has already pledged to beat his own record $80 million spend in the upcoming election, having blitzed Labor at the 2019 poll.

While corporate donors will now be paying their political dues in droves, we won’t know the identities of the largest political payers until February 2023 due to the once-a-year donation disclosure regime.

Despite calls for real time donation disclosures and a reduction of the disclosure threshold, Australians are continuously kept in the dark about who is bankrolling the political parties.

And with distractions such as Zali Steggall’s failure to disclose the Kinghorn family donation dwarfing media coverage of the large systemic abuses by the major parties, don’t expect reform any time soon.

Source: Steggall takes hatchet job, but will the chickens come home to roost for major parties? – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Perceptions of corruption are growing in Australia, and it’s costing the economy

Superannuation Theft $1bn

Wage Theft

Rorts

Taxpayer Funds for Political Advertising

$80M purchase of Water rights worth nothing

The Australian government has decided not to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog this parliamentary term, despite a promise in December 2018 to deliver an integrity commission with teeth, resources and proper processes that will protect the integrity of Australia’s Commonwealth public administration In the three years since that promise was made, Australia has slipped further down the international corruption league tables. On the respected Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International, it is now in 18th position, down from 13th in 2018.

Source: Perceptions of corruption are growing in Australia, and it’s costing the economy

Informed Comment

Zombie Doctrine: belief in Coalition as “super economic managers” sticks, despite proof otherwise – Michael West Media

Australia economy, zombie doctrine

The Coalition as “superior economic managers”? The data demonstrates the polar opposite. Alan Austin looks at the leading measures of economic performance over 10 years and finds Australia has slumped sharply against other nations. The bright spot? Corporate profits.

Source: Zombie Doctrine: belief in Coalition as “super economic managers” sticks, despite proof otherwise – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

JOHN PILGER: War in Europe and the rise of raw propaganda

Marshall McLuhan’s prophecy that “the successor to politics will be propaganda” has happened. Raw propaganda is now the rule in Western democracies, especially the U.S. and Britain.

Source: JOHN PILGER: War in Europe and the rise of raw propaganda

Informed Comment

A Republican Genocide of Quackery: COVID-19 has Killed as many Americans as all our Wars combined

The Biden administration’s successful vaccination drive is estimated to have saved a million lives all told in 2021. So since the US Right Wing has started liking Nazi analogies so much, they should look in the mirror. By discouraging vaccinations and masking, they are the Dr. Josef Mengeles doing deadly experiments on people. They have mown down hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in a genocide of quackery.

Source: A Republican Genocide of Quackery: COVID-19 has Killed as many Americans as all our Wars combined

Informed Comment

The Coalition is backed into a corner – its white teeth anger is frightening – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In the 1996 election, the silent majority spoke, and Australia voted for a more peaceful future, and that’s not what they got. From Howard on, conservatives have given us cultural upheaval and political ratbaggery. It seems to work for them.

The conservatives have been in power for almost nine years. By their incompetence and adherence to ideology, they have stuffed up so many things that a likely mantra for Labor is “Let’s change for the better.”

So, in March 1996, Australia opted for a bit of calm. Years later, after a succession of failed prime ministers, the conservatives continue their abysmal flirtation with corruption and bad governance to the point where you couldn’t trust them as far as you could kick them.

My thought for the day If my judgment, my common sense and what my heart says is different from yours, then I might also be correct. ( John Lord )

Source: The Coalition is backed into a corner – its white teeth anger is frightening – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Go, ScoMo go: Morrison coalition beats Harvey Norman for biggest ad spend, even before election – Michael West Media

Government advertising

Corporate media’s reward and business model investment paycheck is about to arrive. The three-year investment in the quid pro quo arrangement with the L-NP is paying off.  The No News, or Marshall McCluhan’s cool news business profit tap has been turned on, and the ABC has been crushed as insurance that real or hot news doesn’t get out.

Government advertising has skyrocketed to an all-time high of $685 million. With the looming election campaign, which promises to be the biggest political spend in Australian history, and a gigantic war chest for pork-barrelling, is it any wonder the corporate media barracks for the Coalition? Callum Foote and Michael West investigate.

Source: Go, ScoMo go: Morrison coalition beats Harvey Norman for biggest ad spend, even before election – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Benefits of Australia’s compulsory voting system largely illusory

If compulsory voting is no escape from voter ignorance. What then is the driving force on who swinging voters will choose to elect but then as we have seen not work for them? Morrison, Palmer, and the Corporate Oligarchs believe it’s soley Media and Advertising. In fact the LNP have risen to be currently the biggest advertiser with their $680M spend and coupled with the dismantling of the ABC over the past 8 years. There has been a masked long-term quid pro quo arrangement with the Murdoch’s business model and IPA to produce “cool” not “hot” News. We have lived, seen and experienced the quo for the past 8 years and it will be amplified again as the election draws closer but we are beginning to see the enormity of the quid in the government’s arrangement. Palmer, is part of that “spending surge” a tsunami of factless propaganda delivered on an uninformed electorate compelled to vote and that’s the only thing Morrison is now relying on. Maybe what we  see happened in Warringah will happen in all marginal seats with a difference.

The ALP always has to come from behind but “It’s Time Again”

What was dismal in the exercise by the national broadcaster was the happily conceded ignorance of the punters, who, with the exception of one “voter”, seemed to have gone for the whole political spread in their electing history. In other words, they were swingers, fidelity adjustable. This ignored the fundamental point that Australians remain, even now, hostile to eclectic coalitions and representatives unaligned to the major political parties. On the issue of whether the Labor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese would be a suitable leader, let alone prime minister, no illumination was offered, only a blanket of ignorant darkness, occasionally rented by observations that “he might be a decent bloke” who hated Tories and loved his beer.

Source: Benefits of Australia’s compulsory voting system largely illusory

Informed Comment

Could You Possibly Invent a More Expensive and Less Effective Healthcare System than What We Have in the US? | The Smirking Chimp

The Australian L-NP actually believe we should adopt the American model and been working to that end.

I have no illusions this will happen soon. But the road we’re now on is unsustainable — economically, politically, and socially. Eventually, we’re going to have some version of Medicare for All (and hats off to members of Congress who are leading the way, such as Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Debbie Dingel, and Ro Khanna). The question is how much unnecessary cost and hardship must we bear before we do?

Source: Could You Possibly Invent a More Expensive and Less Effective Healthcare System than What We Have in the US? | The Smirking Chimp

Coal, Informed Comment

Australia’s largest coal plant will close 7 years early – but there’s still no national plan for coal’s inevitable demise

In a major step forward for Australia’s clean energy transition, the country’s biggest coal-fired power station Eraring is set to close seven years early in 2025, Origin Energy announced this morning. Eraring has been operating for 35 years in the central coast of New South Wales. Last year, it alone was responsible for around 2% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, based on calculations from electricity market and emissions data. The fundamental reason for its early closure is the brutal impact the growth of renewable energy is having on the profitability of coal plants. Origin has announced it will be building a large, 700 megawatt battery on-site in its place to store renewable energy.

Source: Australia’s largest coal plant will close 7 years early – but there’s still no national plan for coal’s inevitable demise

Informed Comment

Crikey Worm: A grand plan for donations

Helen Haines

NO MORE MONEY BUSINESS Reveal who donates more than a grand to your campaign — that’s the challenge from Victorian MP Helen Haines, The Age reports, as the fallout over donations from coal millionaire John Kinghorn to independent MP Zali Steggall continues. Haines says she’ll list every donation above $1000 on her website each quarter, and anything above the official threshold of $14,500 within just five days (!), demanding all sides of Parliament do likewise. At the moment donations are revealed eight months after the end of the financial year.

Source: Crikey Worm: A grand plan for donations

Informed Comment

Coalition gaffes galore to the tune of an off-key ukulele

It is fitting that the Prime Minister chose to strum away on a simple ukulele the tune of a well-known song this week, without having practised, learnt the words or informed himself of the subject matter, and without any apparent embarrassment. His performance is a metaphor for the Coalition Government he leads.

Source: Coalition gaffes galore to the tune of an off-key ukulele

Informed Comment

Let’s hear it for the ladies – » The Australian Independent Media Network

This says it all. Morrison’s his wife didn’t stand “by him”! She was used to “shield him”.

The first thing to say about the National Press Clubs ladies’ speech day was that Albo turned up; Scomo didn’t.

My thought for the day Just because clowns govern us doesn’t mean it is a laughing matter. ( John Lord )

Source: Let’s hear it for the ladies – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The Zali ballyhoo: dark days for an idealistic independent MP, but the soot won’t stick to Steggall – Michael West Media

Zali Steggall, political donations

The Independent federal MP Zali Steggall has been forced to defend her integrity after revelations by Nine Newspapers that her campaign took donations from a coal kingpin. Mark Sawyer and Michael West have some free advice for the member for Warringah: no strings attached.

Still, Nine Entertainment, which does fundraisers for the Liberal Party and whose political coverage is skewed in favour of the Coalition, boasts the moniker “Independent. Always.” emphatically on its mastheads. Therefore it too is guilty of hypocrisy, emphatic hypocrisy.( Michael West )

Source: The Zali ballyhoo: dark days for an idealistic independent MP, but the soot won’t stick to Steggall – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Political Donations and Brown Paper Bags – spot the difference! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

So, in effect nothing illegal has occurred and when the oversight was brought to the independent member for Warringah’s attention, it was corrected. Does it warrant a media hit ? I don’t think so but there is no doubt that the whole of the regulatory system governing political donations badly needs to be overhauled. When you consider that just $17.9 million worth of individual donations were declared for the 2020 – 2021 year compared with the almost $177 million received by parties you would be forgiven if you thought that the disclosure regime was better described as a non-disclosure scheme. Personally, Steggall’s oversight doesn’t concern me but I am far more concerned that our former Attorney General, Christian Porter, was able to receive and conceal an anonymous donation said to be in the order of a million dollars. In Porter’s case he threw a legal doona over the donation by calling it the proceeds of a blind trust and thus he could not reveal either the source of the funds or the donor – all legal according to him, wink wink, nudge nudge ! Not to mention the potential for disruption to our democracy, not from overseas interests as Peter Dutton would have us believe, but closer to home in the form of Clive Frederick Palmer who spent $60 million in the lead up to the 2019 election without much of a return on his money. But he threatens to spend even more this time around and may well be able to insert one or more of his stooges into the senate : that’s what ASIO are worried about and we should be too.

Source: Political Donations and Brown Paper Bags – spot the difference! – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

A Portrait in Cadging: PwC’s grants-for-grants rort, consulting bonanza, even a sweatshop – Michael West Media

Pwc, George Orwell

 

While they hunt down Robodebt victims for every penny, PwC pays no tax, rakes in billions for consulting to government, quietly runs a sweatshop in Sydney’s West and has even jagged a grant to tell the government who should get grants. Michael West has an answer to lift a pound of flesh from Australia’s biggest leaners. Even Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, with a jar of LSD, could hardly have brainstormed a future so dystopian as this.

Source: A Portrait in Cadging: PwC’s grants-for-grants rort, consulting bonanza, even a sweatshop – Michael West Media

Informed Comment

Visa backlog a sign of weak border control

Morrison’s distraction is the Bill to “punt people out”. It’s bringing back a cherry he knows “Border Control” He’s des[erate for difference as the ALP are stealing the ground from under him. It’s not his fault the law doesn’t protect the family from the domestic violence of aliens, non Australians, refugees and asylum seekers. Judges are protecting them and they need clearer guidance and not be able to make any “subjective or sympathetic decisions”. Like the boats and like Trump he is the only one to keep us safe  and “punt them out” Meanwhile Immigration is in a state of collapse.

Despite all its tough talk on border control, the Government is overwhelmed with a backlog of visas that has built up over the years. Dr Abul Rizvi reports. WHEN BRIDGING VISAS were first introduced in the early 1990s, around the same time as mandatory detention and ministerial discretion, the expectation was that the number of people on bridging visas in Australia would rarely exceed 20,000 to 30,000. That we now have over 330,000 people on bridging visas in Australia is indicative of a visa system in gridlock — paralysed to a degree no one anticipated.

Source: Visa backlog a sign of weak border control

Informed Comment

Awww did the mean people call Scotty names? Try being queer – » The Australian Independent Media Network

If your husband stopped condoning and facilitating such persecution, it would do a lot more to improve his standing than cooking curries, playing the ukelele (badly – seriously whose idea was that), and shoving his wife and kids in front of him to say ‘please like me’. Mean Peop

Source: Awww did the mean people call Scotty names? Try being queer – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Frydenberg’s gross incompetence finally hits mainstream media

After a humiliating defeat in the Senate, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was described as ‘lighter than helium’ and having ‘no agenda’ by one staunchly pro-Coalition media outlet, as Alan Austin reports. ONE OF THE MOST sycophantic pro-Liberal Party newspapers, The Australian Financial Review (AFR), labelled Treasurer Josh Frydenberg ‘the dolt from Kooyong’ last Thursday, claiming his ‘humiliation is total’ and ‘his complete lack of political judgment has been exposed for all to see’.

Source: Frydenberg’s gross incompetence finally hits mainstream media

Informed Comment

Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism | Robert Reich | The Guardian

FILE - In this July 24, 2021, photo, former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a Turning Point Action gathering in Phoenix. Trump remains the most popular figure with the GOP base as he considers another bid for the White House. He's flexing the power of his endorsement in several high-profile midterm contests. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The United States presents itself as the beacon of democracy in contrast to the autocracies of China and Russia. Yet American democracy is in danger of succumbing to the same sort of oligarchic economics and racist nationalism that thrive in both these powers.

Source: Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Informed Comment

I write because l cannot remain silent – » The Australian Independent Media Network

My thought for the day

I don’t mind the criticism, but please don’t do it on an empty head. ( John Lord )

PS: 8 Feb Question time… “The PM is a fraud,” interjected the Labor member. Withdraw, said the Speaker amid laughter. The PM makes a point that the Opposition is politicising the Pandemic. Well, l never.

Source: I write because l cannot remain silent – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The Oz publishes ‘exclusive’ on red Albo as Save Our ScoMo hits top gear

OK, so this is getting serious. Save Our ScoMo is officially in full swing. Over at News Corp HQ, gun investigations editor Sharri Markson pulled out an exclusive for the ages today (the ages being the operative word). It also ranks as one of the most dishonest pieces of journalism you will ever see.

A 2022 “reds under the bed” campaign based on comments made 31 years ago and deceptively presented as new in your national broadsheet. 

The Australian‘s 31-year-old “exclusive” was, naturally, backed up with quotes from Treasurer Josh Frydenberg who it appears is more than happy to play along.

Meanwhile, over at Nine, the Morrison spin machine is in top gear with an “at home with the Morrisons” piece on 60 Minutes coming up. “After [one of] his toughest weeks in the top job, the prime minister fights back with his secret weapon,” says the promo. “Sunday on 60 Minutes: can Jenny Morrison save her husband’s career?”

When in strife, call the wife. That, it would appear, is the Morrison maxim. Jenny Morrison was a hit on the campaign trail last time around. And this time Jenny is an even more potent weapon: Albanese, of course, is a man sans wife and school-aged kids.

Source: The Oz publishes ‘exclusive’ on red Albo as Save Our ScoMo hits top gear

Informed Comment

Inflation Isn’t the Problem! The Real Problem Is Employers Are Shafting Workers | The Smirking Chimp

More inflation buzz today. The U.S. consumer price index for January is expected to have risen 0.5% — culminating in an annual rise of 7.3%, which would be the largest such increase since 1982. Yes, prices are increasing. But would you prefer a recession? As a practical matter, that’s the choice the Fed gives us. When the Fed puts on the brakes, it often pushes the economy into a ditch. A recession will cause far more hardship for many more Americans than inflation is now causing.

Source: Inflation Isn’t the Problem! The Real Problem Is Employers Are Shafting Workers | The Smirking Chimp

Informed Comment

Why am I crying? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

I cried because their experiences should never have happened – they should have been safe.

I cried for all the women and children who should have been safe.

I cried in anger and frustration at our failure to make them safe – to prevent the dehumanising harm that endemic violence causes.

I cried that power is wasted on those whose only aim is to stay in power by whatever means it takes.

But mostly…

I cried with pride.

Source: Why am I crying? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Morrison pins his hopes on the complacency or ignorance of voters – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison’s advantage is that his unstated quid pro quo relationship with a corporate MSM, a private media which assists by producing a numbing mist and not News. A cocktail of sport, entertainment, and a scattering of trivial reports sold as but what it isn’t “News”. It’s actually a distraction a soporific fake product. Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins started a conversation at the NPC and 60 Minutes follows it up with Morrison hiding behind his wife Jenny’s skirt. The issue of Morrison and te Sexism in Canberra diffused rather than addressed proves and speaks to Tame and Higgin’s claim that Morrison has done nothing.

Murdoch doesn’t even hide the fact that they aren’t a News organisation anymore but use the term “opinion” to cover up their primary function propaganda, or a cash for comment business model. Meanhile  Morrison’s LNP shreds our Democracy and the ABC to consolidate their’s and Murdoch’s model of and transition to one party rule.

By Mike Scrafton We’re facing a climate calamity, yet the PM believes Australians are more focused on the next holiday than threats to their children’s future. In his recent address to the National Press Club, Prime Minister Scott Morrison typically infantilised voters and kept the focus on economic growth. He believes the voters, cocooned in their cloistered suburbs, are oblivious to the threats that will crush their children’s future prospects.

Source: Morrison pins his hopes on the complacency or ignorance of voters – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

The Real Fake News Crisis in America Comes From Corporate Media

The difference between “media” and actual journalism is the root of the misinformation crisis. We’re drowning in content that is increasingly valued only for its potency in the political wars, rather than judged on its factual merits and its choice of targets. That kind of media content strays farther and farther from reality because it’s about entertaining and inflaming rather than educating and informing.

The answer to misinformation, then, is not some censorship regime, and it’s not more intense fan culture around individual media icons so that everything is a self-enriching culture war between cable TV pundits and Spotify hosts.

The answer is an audience that actually values accurate and necessary information, even if it offends their preconceived notions — an audience that runs away from corporate media outlets that force-feed them lies and liars, and runs toward news organizations that report hard truths.

That’s the kind of news organization we’re working to build here. And we know it’s going to take a long time to build a true independent and trustworthy Fourth Estate in the wreckage of a corporate media landscape, where the flames of bullshit smolder and suffocate the discourse.

But that’s the only way forward.

Source: The Real Fake News Crisis in America Comes From Corporate Media

Informed Comment

Michael Pascoe: Here comes the window dressing (Cheers, Biloela family!)

Scott Morrison and the Biloela family

Media staged politics is at the expense of humanity and everything decent. The history of Morrison’s cruelty will be on display. The ABC has seemingly been promised some money back that was taken away after Morrison’s win as it was after Abbott’s. It’s par for the LNP.

The Biloela Family will be used in Morrison’s cruel plan to advertise a false fact “I’m not the man they say I am”. These people have been held politically captive to be released for just this sort of event. We have to remind ourselves, Morrison is simply looking to stop a small % swing against him in marginal electorates. He’s not trying to influence the whole country. So Religious Discrimination stays, ICAC goes, humanizing Morrison remains a priority according to the polls. So acts like this will and must remain on the agenda no matter how calculating they seem to the majority of us. There will be very Australian not a French polish used and it’s coming our way. However, what lies beneath won’t change.

The good news: I’m quietly confident the Biloela family will be “home to Bilo” before the election. The bad news: They should have been there years ago. The despicable news: The timing of their release is being delayed for political theatre, the staging of a “Liberal moderates acting tough, achieving change” pantomime.

Source: Michael Pascoe: Here comes the window dressing (Cheers, Biloela family!)

Informed Comment

A quarter of the world depends on Glacier Melt for their Water; it will be Gone Sooner than Expected

Mountain glaciers are essential water sources for nearly a quarter of the global population. But figuring out just how much ice they hold – and how much water will be available as glaciers shrink in a warming world – has been notoriously difficult. In a new study, scientists mapped the speed of over 200,000 glaciers to get closer to an answer. They discovered that widely used estimates of glacier ice volume may be off by about 20% in terms of how much Earth’s glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could contribute to sea level rise. Mathieu Morlighem, a leader in ice sheet modeling and a coauthor of the study, explains why the new results hold a warning for regions that rely on glaciers’ seasonal meltwater, but barely register in the big picture of rising seas.

Source: A quarter of the world depends on Glacier Melt for their Water; it will be Gone Sooner than Expected

Informed Comment

The government is falling apart… let’s hope the voters are paying attention – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Why is it people like Trump can gain voters’ attention but those on the left don’t seem to be able to do the same as Whitlam and Hawke once did? Their enthusiasm was contagious. I dare say it’s to do with the a shift in the media more so than the politicians. Bill Shorten and Albanese have both been regarded as as inspiring speakers in the ALP. Plibersek has a great media presence next to them Morrison Frydenberg look incompetent. But the media guarantees that, that in fact, won’t happen.

My thought for the day We live in a time where horrible things are being perpetrated on us. The shame is that we have normalised them and adjusted accordingly. (John Lord)

Source: The government is falling apart… let’s hope the voters are paying attention – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Forget Carr’s tweet, Morrison made it harder for him to be toppled – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison installed a less Democratic rule to stop him from being toppled. The same rule that America applies in its Senate. 51% vote no longer cuts it in a Democracy.

In December of the same year, the population was out for blood. Scott Morrison disappeared (for the first time) while New South Wales was on fire, and without an election on the horizon, many were clamouring for another spill to undo the last one. Yet, a week later, Morrison unexpectedly called upon his flock to toggle the rules, thereby making it harder for a sitting leader to be knifed behind a curtain. It would now take a two-thirds majority to bring about the Ides of March and topple a leader. In his own words, it was a move inspired by “listening to the Australian people”, with Morrison believing that the problem at the top was invalidating our votes. Therefore, he was doing us a favour by making it harder to remove him, who, at the time, wasn’t actually chosen by the people.

Source: Forget Carr’s tweet, Morrison made it harder for him to be toppled – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

How to fix politics – get rid of political staffers and media advisers and hire some policy experts – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In response to the current leaked texts fiasco, Coalition politicians are dismissing it as a media beat up, that everyone sends nasty texts after a bad day, it’s normal to disagree sometimes. What rot! There is nothing normal about the whole business and it underlines just what a toxic workplace culture exists in our parliaments. Blowing off steam to a partner or close friend might be one thing – nasty name-calling in print sent to people who live by leaking to the media is not how any management team should behave. So why do our politicians do all this? Because their staffers and media advisers think it’s a good idea? The marketing approach is delivering increasingly worse results in terms of personnel and outcomes. Politicians can’t be experts at everything but they could listen to people who are. How about we leave the hairdressing to hairdressers, get rid of the personal photographer and image consultants, and get some policy experts onboard instead.

Source: How to fix politics – get rid of political staffers and media advisers and hire some policy experts – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Australia’s structural cruelty goes beyond refugee policy – » The Australian Independent Media Network

To reframe a description of an Australian government’s policies from cruel to evil, I acknowledge the insights and outrage of Crikey commentator Guy Rundle. Writing on January 12, he refers to the treatment of Park Hotel refugees as “an evil that manifests itself in plain sight”, his charge confirmed by the experiences of 24-year-old detainee Mehdi Ali, who was only 15 when first imprisoned, after he tried to escape oppression in Iran by travelling to Australia by boat. Powerful, proud Canberra politicians have been so preoccupied with appearing strong towards powerless refugees that they appear to enjoy inflicting psychological harm, a practice described by Rundle as “just straight existential horror, weaponized to create permanent damage”.

Source: Australia’s structural cruelty goes beyond refugee policy – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Informed Comment

Billionaires’ Absurd and Growing Wealth Undercuts Democracy

The obscene wealth of the world’s billionaires doesn’t just mean they get to lead lives of luxury. It also means they have almost complete control of the economy — control that is fundamentally undemocratic and unjust.

Source: Billionaires’ Absurd and Growing Wealth Undercuts Democracy