We knew this would happen. As soon as preliminary insolvency figures to June showed a surge above previous years, it was inevitable that members of the craven news media would blame Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor. So they did.
AUSTRALIA’S MAINSTREAM MEDIA, conservative political parties, right-wing think tanks and sundry corporate commentators would have citizens believe they are in a severe cost-of-living crisis.
We have known for some months that Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher were the only finance ministers in the world whose economy has enjoyed top credit ratings, both jobless and inflation rates below 4%, and positive economic growth every quarter last year.
Following last Tuesday’s Budget outcomes, Australia has joined Denmark as one of only two economies to have gained consecutive surpluses, reduced debt to GDP twice and kept average wealth per person above USD$350,000 (AU$520,000).
So, if the AFR approved the 2022 Budget, what superlatives would they lavish on the Albanese Government and these world-beating numbers?
Their lead analysis, headed ‘Spending addiction fuels a new decade of deficits’, attacked Labor for driving ‘the budget headlong into deficit for the next decade’.
The accompanying opinion piece declared, ‘This is the most irresponsible budget in recent memory’.
Other negative commentaries included, ‘Labor slammed for offshore gas approval backdown’ and ‘The big fail in Australia’s housing’.
Yes, wall-to-wall condemnation and pessimism. ABC News, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald were also highly critical. The Murdoch media was even more savage. The Herald Sun headed its critique, ‘Chalmed and dangerous’.
The entrenched regime of systematic media deception is growing challenged, as Labor’s management of the economy continues to prove effective, Alan Austin writes.
At the end of its first full year, the economic data confirms Labor is again emerging as a financial global leader through effective management of the economy, reports Alan Austin.
Elections in the world’s largest democracies in 2024 will shape the future of the world for years to come, Alan Austin reports.
OBSERVERS CONCERNED about global democracy are now fidgeting nervously at the prospect of American voters abandoning their 235-year history of “We the people” in favour of a dictatorship ruled by Donald Trump. Several other electoral contests are generating similar apprehension.
“Holy havoc may erupt at the next Synod because progress is often followed by backlash,” Cherry said. “Conservative bishops have strongly rejected the Pope’s approval of same-sex blessings, and LGBTQ Catholics are already planning to push for more progress. The clash of opposing viewpoints will bring a powerful opportunity for change.”
Coming in at ninth in our most popular stories of the year is one by former ABC journalist and now star IA columnist Alan Austin – who always features in our top ten – with this incisive December story about his former employer and its growing relationship with the Murdoch media.
Whatever did happen to those named in the Panama Papers years ago? Why did the LNO allow tax evaders like News Corp and Mining companies to self-negotiate what they were willing to pay in Tax?
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is punishing some tax cheats, but still has to catch the big players, reports Alan Austin.
Not all 19 MPs will be turfed out in one election. Some will take two or more election cycles to remove. But that’s okay. The destruction of Indigenous aspirations and the continuation of severe health, economic and imprisonment outcomes resulting from Dutton’s opportunistic “No” vote will be felt for decades. The responses in outrage should also continue for decades.
If enough Australians get to serious work, the nation will not suffer such a day of shame again.
A sober reflection and why history sends an important message but we also need trusted and clear-eyed messengers to deliver it
Since Federation in 1901 there have been six major landmarks in Indigenous affairs. The Coalition has reversed or opposed them all, reports Alan Austin.
Last Saturday’s referendum which fulfilled that commitment was resoundingly defeated, as was, of course, inevitable once the craven Opposition decided for political advantage to oppose it.
The nation must now reflect on this and find some way to live with it for the foreseeable future.
The only positive seems at this stage – from the perspective of those who wish to see Indigenous Australians occupy an honoured place with a significant voice – is if this hastens the demise of the Liberal and National parties at future elections.
AUSTRALIA HAS BEGUN its long, slow climb out of the sewers of sleaze and corruption now a new government committed to integrity has replaced the grimy and incompetent Coalition.
Government gross debt recorded last Friday was $894.6 billion, revealing the Albanese Government has added just $6.1 billion in its first 11 months. That compares with an average of $71.5 billion added each year by the previous Coalition Government over its term.
Chalmers is facing significant challenges as he prepares his second budget since gaining office nearly a year ago. They include persistent inflation, the housing shortage, the low share of national income going to workers, stalled productivity and rampant corporate tax evasion. All these were badly mismanaged by the previous conservative administration.
Australia’s official media watchdog has found three-quarters of recent complaints upheld for violations of media ethical principles were against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, as Alan Austin reports.
Recent charges against Donald Trump have split observers worldwide, lawmakers in the USA, members of the Republican Party and even Trump’s family, as Alan Austin reports.
The earnest voices warning that a Trump conviction will end civilisation as we know it are mistaken. There is only one extraordinary thing about the current unfolding judicial saga, but it is not what the commentators think. In fact, it has already come and gone.
The latest court documents provide damning proof of News Corp’s intentional malice and mendacity, as Alan Austin reports.
NEWS CORP CEO Rupert Murdoch has just had the worst week of his professional life since the phone hacking scandals shut down his British newspaper, News of the World, in 2011.
A court decision last week green lights bold defamation action against the English-speaking world’s most powerful media empire, as Alan Austin reports.
We continue the countdown to our Top 5 most viewed articles in 2022. Number 2 goes to Alan Austin for this piece from April.
Worst debt blow-out in the developed world refutes Coalition claims of economic competence
Last Friday morning, just as Scott Morrison was spruiking his credentials on 3AW, Treasury updated Australia’s gross debt – a thumping $874.2 billion. The Coalition has now added a neat $600 billion to the nation’s debt.
AUSTRALIA, Brazil, Malaysia and Colombia all voted in reformist governments this year, after years of corrupt conservative Right-wing rule. Progressive governments were returned with strong mandates in Portugal, Malta and Denmark. Women were elected national leaders for the first time in Italy, Slovenia and Peru.
It is now possible to quantify accurately the death toll from the destructive Trump regime, as Alan Austin reports.
As Trump gears up his campaign to return as U.S. President, we can calculate the number of Americans who have died needlessly since his first announced run in mid-2015. The number is 548,800, more than half a million.
Events in the USA suggest the Trump era may be ending, but not before hundreds of thousands of Americans have died unnecessarily, as Alan Austin reports.
Figures in last Tuesday’s Budget Papers show the Coalition has cost Australians more than 400 billion dollars in waste and rorts, as Alan Austin reports.
The dramatic decline of the once-great U.S. economy has important lessons for Australia and the world, as Alan Austin reports. AMERICANS SEEKING WISDOM about the state of their economy will gain little insight from mainstream economics writers. They are like detectives called to investigate an assault. They note boot prints in the garden, the broken living room window and the smell of gunpowder. But they fail to observe the three dead bodies. These are the cadavers:
In a 24/7 news cycle this isn’t abandonment the reality will be closer to truth after the mid terms. Conservative America fears Trump will announce his hand before the up and coming elections. Murdoch hate backing losers and he’s simply laying the path for a Trump return. post November.
Powerful media owner Rupert Murdoch is no longer supporting Donald Trump as the next president of the USA, as Alan Austin reports.
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