Tag: 2022

Informed Comment

Different year, same campaign – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Did you hear the LNP telling us that China was building a military base in Vanuatu? Or was that Norfolk Island?

Oh wait, that was 2018 when the headline read China eyes Vanuatu military base in plan with global ramifications.

Despite racking up huge debts and a structural deficit that will continue for years, the Coalition are still laying claim to being better economic managers, a claim that is debunked by Alan Austin in his article Worst debt blow-out in the developed world refutes Coalition claims of economic competence Having lost the battle to stop marriage equality, persecution of the rainbow community has moved to expelling gay students and stopping trans kids from playing sport. Different target, same bigotry. Oh, and death taxes….again. You have to wonder what the point is of this travelling circus since we’ve seen and heard it all before.

Source: Different year, same campaign – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Uncategorized

Election 2022: Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese make their pitch to Australia’s 4.6 million uncommitted voters

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have made their pitches to uncommitted voters.The Ant and the Grasshopper (+ Free Downloadable Ebook) | by Sir John Hargrave | Medium

Morrison and Aesop’s Fable

It’s a case of the tent preacher leading a ragged bunch of camp followers into town banging his drum promising “miracles” having left disaster behind in his wake. It’s the huckster promising the last 3 years didn’t happen and weren’t his fault that it was the opposition that made him do it. Yes, It’s Morrison the grasshopper leaving our cupboard bare and a bill to pay, and the ant wanting, he, and his team to rebuild it.  It’s the hare prancing about like the energizer bunny doing little or nothing while the tortoise has been purposefully moving forward knowing what the race really means It’s not about blind faith or optimism or blind trust but focused rational attention to work changing direction and everyone doing it together for their kids kids.

In a pair of opinion pieces commissioned by The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age four weeks out from polling day on May 21, both men have laid out their visions for Australia’s future – while emphasising the risks presented by their opponents.

Source: Election 2022: Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese make their pitch to Australia’s 4.6 million uncommitted voters

Australia's Shame

Morrison’s arrogance toward South Pacific fuels China tensions

The Coalition’s fumbling of foreign policy has resulted in a dangerous display of bravado as tensions escalate over the China/Solomon Islands security agreement, writes Bruce Haigh.

Source: Morrison’s arrogance toward South Pacific fuels China tensions

Budget

From Back in Black to a Trillion in Debt – » The Australian Independent Media Network

 

Last night we saw an out of touch and desperate Federal Government trying to buy your votes just before an election – an election which the polls suggest the Morrison Government will be heavily defeated in – by delivering a terrible budget which has no long-term plans for this country’s future. The only plan regarding this budget is an attempt to re-elect Mr Morrison as Prime Minister, a man whom in the words of Senator Fierravanti-Wells is an “autocrat and bully who has no moral compass” (Pauline Hanson is also alleging today she too has experienced Mr Morrison’s bullying). We deserve better than this, Australia.

Source: From Back in Black to a Trillion in Debt – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Donald Trump

Trump heads to Georgia in high-stakes bid to shape Republican primaries | Donald Trump | The Guardian

trump stands behind podium as hice speaks

Testing the Waters for himself not the state?

“He will not be a help to Trump-endorsed candidates when he comes on Saturday,” the conservative commentator Martha Zoller told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week. “He will be negative and backward looking – and that’s not what voters want.” Some Republican pollsters said that while Trump’s endorsement was coveted, he had diluted his influence by reaching far down the ballot or supporting late-entry candidates with little public recognition or campaign apparatus.

Source: Trump heads to Georgia in high-stakes bid to shape Republican primaries | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Germany

No to Blackmail: Germany to be free from Russian oil, coal by end of 2022, Gas by 2024 – Econ Minister

Less than a final solution given the Saudi- Qattar conflict. The final solution for Independence must be renewable energy and Germany is a tech leader.

Germany is making considerable progress in weaning itself off fossil fuel imports from Russia and could become virtually independent of the country’s coal and oil by the end of this year, said economy and climate minister Robert Habeck in Berlin. Natural gas supply poses the biggest challenge and it will likely take until mid-2024 for Germany to be able to forgo deliveries from Russia, said the minister. Significant expansion of renewables, reduction of consumption in all sectors, diversification and the ramp-up of hydrogen are needed for this.

Source: No to Blackmail: Germany to be free from Russian oil, coal by end of 2022, Gas by 2024 – Econ Minister

ALP

Anthony Albanese to embrace Labor luminary Bob Hawke’s consensus style if ALP wins election | Anthony Albanese | The Guardian

Labor leader Anthony Albanese

Here is what the L-NP haven’t been doing for over 9 years even among themselves. Theirs is CHAOS STYLE!!

Anthony Albanese will bemoan a lost decade of division and policy inertia under the Coalition, declaring he will take his lead from Bob Hawke, lifting productivity, boosting growth and using “cheap, renewable energy to transform our economy” if Labor wins the coming election.

Source: Anthony Albanese to embrace Labor luminary Bob Hawke’s consensus style if ALP wins election | Anthony Albanese | The Guardian

Asylum Seekers

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the West’s Double Standards on Refugees

John Howard Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison didn’t have any sympathy let alone empathy for refugees and all used and politicized their difference from us. Scott Morrison was always know to be enthusiastic about the tactic of using Middle Easterners as political tools after the Cronulla riots. He still does holding innocent people for over 9 years “using them” as a deterrant rather than accepting the tragedy of their circumstance.

There are no benefits or advantages in war — any war — because it is always the poor, the innocent and the weak who pay the biggest price. However, war gives us the opportunity to study history, current affairs and future possibilities. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has, in just a few days, taught us some important lessons about how the West really views Arabs, Muslims and other Middle Easterners, including Arab Christians. It should also have taught us that it is necessary to sympathise with the victims, regardless of their race, gender or religion, while not forgetting our own victims, whether the guardians of the “universal values” myth like it or not.

Source: The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the West’s Double Standards on Refugees

Election

Federal election 2022: Will wage growth play into the polls?

Scott Morrison campaigning in Tasmania this week. He attacked unions over the shutdown of Sydney’s network even as it was clear the state government had shut out its workforce.

This is what is meant by the expression ” Wagging the Dog”. A totally manufactured and produced hi-viz photo shot accompanied by a totally fabricated fact, a lie about the NSW train strike on TV and in the media. Solely designed to turn Morrison’s dwindling chances of an election win around. Morrison and his team must have watched the 1997 movie “Wag the Dog” starring Di Niro and Dustin Hoffman who showed them how to come back from the dead.  It was about a failing President’s (PM) election chances needing to be  turned around in 11 days by the application of Fake News. Morrison has been mirroring the same tactics to a tee. Should anyone of Morrison’s media production team reveal the truth they too might go the way of Dustin Hoffman in the end.

Scott Morrison campaigning in Tasmania this week. He attacked unions over the shutdown of Sydney’s network even as it was clear the state government had shut out its workforce.

Source: Federal election 2022: Will wage growth play into the polls?

Democracy 2.0, Democracy Now, Privatising Democracy

Restore trust by letting the voters see who is paying the piper, in real time – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Morrison’s Miracle Maker: Scotty’s God is back to tip Democracy on its head again and Scott is bringing politics to church. However not like the Latin American church once brought Religion to politics.

In 2019 a billionaire spent $83.6 million to influence a federal election. Why in 2022 is our democracy still for sale? States and territories have introduced caps on political donations and campaign expenditure to prevent such tilting of the electoral playing field. But Clive Palmer is doing it again and the federal government has done nothing to prevent it.

Source: Restore trust by letting the voters see who is paying the piper, in real time – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Polls

Newspoll has Labor’s biggest lead since Turnbull’s ousting as Coalition damaged by COVID

In the first Newspoll of 2022, Labor led by 56-44, a three-point gain since the previous Newspoll in early December. Primary votes were 41% Labor (up three), 34% Coalition (down two), 11% Greens (up one), 3% One Nation (steady) and 11% for all Others (down two). This is Labor’s biggest lead in Newspoll since the aftermath of the August 2018 ousting of Malcolm Turnbull in favour of Scott Morrison as prime minister. But the Coalition recovered to win the May 2019 election, with the final polls inaccurate. So the Coalition is not out of contention for the upcoming election yet. 39% were satisfied with Morrison’s performance (down five), and 58% were dissatisfied (up six), for a net approval of -19, down 11 points. Analyst Kevin Bonham said this was Morrison’s worst net approval since the 2019-20 bushfires (-22 then).

Source: Newspoll has Labor’s biggest lead since Turnbull’s ousting as Coalition damaged by COVID

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Looking back we thought Abbott was a turd. He was just a political punk.But Morrison has damaged Australia and dragged us to our lowest point in history.

Fighting Fake News with REAL; 27/1/22; Russia or China the West’s dilemma; This picture tells a story; 2022 Election and the Morrison do-nothing LNP;

Trump

Trump’s new legal troubles mount — even as Russia probe officially runs out of steam | Salon.com

Donald Trump; Robert Mueller (Getty/Chris Kleponis/Andrew Burton)

If last week was considered Joe Biden’s no-good, very bad week, there’s a case to be made that this week was Donald Trump’s no-good, even worse week.

Source: Trump’s new legal troubles mount — even as Russia probe officially runs out of steam | Salon.com

Election

No, Morrison can’t avoid going to an election (and other stories)

Social media discourse has been indicating PM Morrison may attempt to postpone the 2022 Election using the pandemic as an excuse. Andrew P Street sets the record straight.

Source: No, Morrison can’t avoid going to an election (and other stories)

Informed Comment

Olde Pascoe’s Almanacke reveals pirate prefers plank to politics in 2022

2022 coming to get you

If you think you know the sound of horror, try the unmistakable thump of a bloody pirate demon’s wooden leg coming down the stairs accompanied by the scratch of a hook hand gouging the railing for balance. Yes, it really is worse than fingernails on a blackboard.

Source: Olde Pascoe’s Almanacke reveals pirate prefers plank to politics in 2022

Electricity

Good News in 2022: Top 5 Reasons to be Happy about Electric Vehicles in US in Coming Year

The Biden administration’s Infrastructure and Jobs Act, passed in October, and the new fuel standards set by the EPA will have a positive impact on electric vehicles in the United States in the coming year. Let’s review this good news.

Source: Good News in 2022: Top 5 Reasons to be Happy about Electric Vehicles in US in Coming Year

LNP, LNP Economic Management, LNP Government

Paul Bongiorno: PM’s only hope is budget numbers saving him

budget

The Scam and fix is in. The budget tanked like a bungee during the pandemic now it’s about to rebound as rapidly as one, but just like a bungee that recovery won’t be the same as it was pre-pandemic, and it wasn’t crash hot back then either as they’d destroyed our relationship with China and the EU.

Nevertheless, you won’t hear that from Morrison or Frydenberg who will tell you our recovery will have been the best in all possible worlds. As a consequence, we will be able to afford the best of all possible bribes, tax cuts. Never mind that the top 10% of the nation has already received their bonus expanding the wealth gap like never before seen (over 25%). Never mind, that in the past 30 years the LNP has been the highest taxing of all governments. Never mind, that the LNP has been the harshest on Social Welfare, Universal Health, Education, wage growth, and the casualization of the workforce. During their tenure have Dropped us down the ladder from best to worst in the OECD and increased the level of corruption. Never mind this government has been the most secretive and least supportive of communications making us 60th globally in broadband speed and the accelerated destruction of the ABC and restriction of Independent Media. Never mind that we have fallen on every comparable social metric and our global reputation has been shredded under this the worst PM and government this country has ever seen. We are nevertheless about to be given tax cuts of 1-2 %. WTF!!

The word out of the federal government is a desperate Scott Morrison will use improved numbers in the budget to attempt a huge tax cut to buy his way back into government.

Source: Paul Bongiorno: PM’s only hope is budget numbers saving him

Australian Politics

‘Attacking democracy’: Independent MPs hit back at Coalition

Image

 No complaints were heard when Clive Palmer spent $$$

Escalating Coalition criticism of the ‘Voices Of’ independent movement is “attacking democracy”, one of the drive’s key supporters has claimed, as yet more senior ministers complain about its growing traction.

Despite the Coalition claiming the movement is a “front” for Labor or the Greens, most of the independent candidates say they’ve never been a member of any political party, and some have links to the Liberals. Ms Daniel, a former ABC journalist and former TND columnist, said she had voted for her opponent, Mr Wilson, in 2016. Allegra Spender, taking on Dave Sharma in Wentworth, is the daughter of former Liberal MP John Spender. Mr Holmes a Court said he was unsurprised the Voices campaigns largely came from Coalition seats. “They’re growing out of frustration at the representation they’re getting. I’m not surprised people in non-government seats aren’t energised enough to start a campaign,” he said. “This is a movement from the centre. It’s spot fires of people who are pi–ed off. If Labor was in power, I’m sure this movement would be targeting Labor seats. They’re pushing against people they think are doing a bad job. “[Mr Morrison] should be asking, ‘Why did these groups start up and why are people disaffected in heartland Liberal seats?’” Mr Holmes a Court said Climate 200 would look to support between 12 and 20 independent candidates, and hoped three to five would win

Source: ‘Attacking democracy’: Independent MPs hit back at Coalition

Election

Michael Pascoe: Beware the promises in next election budget

Given current polling and the vaccination schmozzle, the odds are favouring the government hanging on to the benefits of incumbency as long as possible, hoping the vaccine bungles will fade, the shots work, peace breaks out over our internal borders, and the promises of opening up start to look more credible. That would mean a repeat of the 2019 timetable – an April budget ahead of a May election. Given the government’s denial, dissembling and deflection over blatant and systemic corruption last time, fasten your seat belts for even more rorting of the public purse for political purposes.

Source: Michael Pascoe: Beware the promises in next election budget

Scott Morrison

COVID Australia: Morrison government buys Pfizer boosters, ATAGI says just get jabbed

People wait for their allocated time slot earlier this month at the NSW vaccination hub in Homebush.

Sixty million of the Pfizer doses will be delivered in 2022 and another 25 million in 2023, in addition to the 40 million already due to arrive in Australia this year.

Source: COVID Australia: Morrison government buys Pfizer boosters, ATAGI says just get jabbed

GOP

How Far Will the GOP Go To Steal the 2022 Election? | The Smirking Chimp

Legal or not, moral or not, consistent with American values or not, honestly or blatantly dishonest, they’ll do whatever it takes to seize and hold power. The For The People Act will clean up a lot of this, but not the GOP’s resetting how election systems work in the states so GOP officials can simply throw out votes from precincts or areas they simply “believe” (but cannot demonstrate or prove) have “fraud” (also known as “Black voters”). That’s going to require additional federal legislation.

Source: How Far Will the GOP Go To Steal the 2022 Election? | The Smirking Chimp

America, American Politics

America on the knife’s edge: Will the next year determine the fate of democracy? | Salon.com

main article image

There are so many paradoxes to America’s current state of political dysfunction that no one could possibly list them all. The party that has embraced the task of trying to save democracy at the last moment, however awkwardly and incompletely — and however poisoned by its own internal contradictions — won, but very nearly lost. The party that has gone about 94 percent of the way into white nationalism and primitive fascism lost, primarily because of its contaminated figurehead — but could not possibly have come so close to winning without him. As for the massive question of whether liberal democracy can be saved, let’s put a pin in that one, as we say these days. As Pankaj Mishra points out repeatedly in his recent collection of essays, “Bland Fanatics,” Western-style liberalism had a perhaps-fatal flaw built into it from the beginning: Its expansion of human rights and representative democracy and the “free market” and whatever other noble and purportedly universal principles were always dependent on exploiting less powerful nations elsewhere in the world, first to extract raw materials and human capital, and then to serve as captive export markets.

Source: America on the knife’s edge: Will the next year determine the fate of democracy? | Salon.com