Tag: Australia

Media

Big Media: Perhaps its grip is loosening? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

This week 2GB Radio in Sydney got knocked off its number one perch. This right-wing gabfest has been at number one in the Sydney marketplace since 2004. It lost its spot to KIISFM which is an entirely non-serious enterprise. This is an important milestone. It marks a shift in the reading/listening/watching habits of the Australian populace; a change that will become ever more notable in the coming months and years.

Source: Big Media: Perhaps its grip is loosening? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Submarines

US, UK, Australia Unveil AUKUS Nuclear-Powered Submarine Deal – scheerpost.com

What Albanese calls “a partnership”

The US has big plans for Australia in its preparations for a future war with China. US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro recently said that he envisions AUKUS will turn the country into a full-service submarine hub that can oversee all allied underwater activity in the Asia-Pacific. Naturally, China views AUKUS as a major provocation as the submarines will be used to patrol waters near its shores.

Source: US, UK, Australia Unveil AUKUS Nuclear-Powered Submarine Deal – scheerpost.com

Uninformed Comment

Living in the Shadows of the US Global Alliance: Respecting Differing Trans-Tasman Perspectives – » The Australian Independent Media Network

One might well ask if Jacinda Ardern saw her anti- nuke stand as an “aftermath” of the 1985 Rainbow Warrior event after 35 years. I believe her response would have been “bullshit”.

As for Morrison’s Aussie and now Albo’s “tolerance” that seems like “gilding the lily” to the ALP’s misfortune. It has inherited some very damaging perspectives from a decade of the Abbott/Turnbull/ Morrison LNP that can’t be simply be turned around after 9 months.

During this time the Murdochian/ Conservative/Mainstream media stamp and influence has been in place for well over ten years telling us Muslims and China are the enemies. Something that hasn’t been the case in NZ. The Australian LNP depends heavily on cultural “fear” to maintain its status as a government and “win” at all costs, their sole strategy. Culture and identity politics was the focus of a government that didn’t want a magnifying glass put on its economic management for the interests of a particular class rather than the nation. Indigenous Australia and Robodebt ( kicking dole bludgers) are just proof that enemies had to be found or rather fabricated in every aspect of our white Christian European monarchist colonist lives. The Albanese government must find a diplomatic way to dig us out of the hole the LNP created in the eyes of the world and at home this past dark decade.

There was not a ripple of public dissent between the two leaders over NZ’s continuing ban on the entry of nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered vessels into NZ ports. This policy was restated by the visiting NZ Prime Minister. Prime Minister Albanese remained committed to Australia’s participation in AUKUS and to negotiations over the acquisition of nuclear submarines from the US and Britain.

Source: Living in the Shadows of the US Global Alliance: Respecting Differing Trans-Tasman Perspectives – » The Australian Independent Media Network

CO2 Emmissions

‘Toxic cover-up’: 6 lessons Australia can draw from the UN’s scathing report on greenwashing

The United Nations this week slammed corporate “greenwashing” and said organisations cannot claim to be net-zero while supporting fossil fuel projects.

Source: ‘Toxic cover-up’: 6 lessons Australia can draw from the UN’s scathing report on greenwashing

Informed Comment

Australia’s Industrial Relations System Is Designed to Enrich Capital at Workers’ Expense

Since the 1980s, workplace law in Australia has crippled the union movement. Today, it’s a finely tuned machine that exacerbates inequality in order to enrich a small minority of bosses.

Source: Australia’s Industrial Relations System Is Designed to Enrich Capital at Workers’ Expense

Informed Comment

Australia Must Confront Its Past as a Colonial Power in the Pacific

Anthony Albanese’s Labor government claims that it views Australia’s neighbors in the Pacific as “partners.” For this to be more than hollow rhetoric, Australia must face up to the injustices it has committed as a colonial power in the region.

Source: Australia Must Confront Its Past as a Colonial Power in the Pacific

Solar Energy

There’s a huge Surge in Solar Production under Way – and Australia could show the World how to use It

graph showing australia solar uptakeq

Australia can show the way You might not think it, given the decade of political climate wars, but Australia is the world leader in terms of solar electricity produced per person.

Source: There’s a huge Surge in Solar Production under Way – and Australia could show the World how to use It

LNP Government

Learning to hate China – how well have we learned the lessons – Pearls and Irritations

Charts of financial instruments including various type of indicator for technical analysis on the monitor of a computer, together with face of Mao Zedong on RMB (Yuan) 100 bill.

What we inherited with the Trumpster LNP

Toward the end of 2019, an article titled Lessons in how to hate China was published in Pearls and Irritations. Those lessons have been learned and learned well. Three years is a short time but the collective memory is also short. China is now the accepted enemy and the likelihood of war is spoken of more openly.

climate crisis and of a hegemonic shift from the US to China. It was an uncertain time and fear was being promoted. Those conditions still exist. The only difference is that the threat from the US and its allies has become more intense. We have learned to hate China and may well suffer from the education we have received.

Source: Learning to hate China – how well have we learned the lessons – Pearls and Irritations

WAR

War Powers Reform: those in favour say aye … or maybe “no comment” – Michael West

War powers reform, inquiry

True to its word, the Albanese government has announced an inquiry into War Powers. Dr Alison Broinowski looks at the politics and the players, and the chances of reform so the decision to take Australians to war requires a vote of Parliament, rather than a one-man-call.

Source: War Powers Reform: those in favour say aye … or maybe “no comment” – Michael West

Democracy Now

Australia might be saving our democracy. Can the UK and US? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Truss is, as the 2021 essay forecast, entirely immersed in the world and personnel of the billionaires’ ultra free market lobby groups masquerading as thinktanks. Her Chancellor is an ideologue and true believer in the message. The “thinktanks” face the moment of testing: who was the liberty for that they championed? Only the Ultra High Net Worth class and their High Net Worth enablers? Both the UK and the US stand on the brink of something unthinkable a decade ago. Australians must fight to ensure that our radicalised right (and the “thinktanks” that foster the internationally-networked radicalisation) don’t take us back down that path. We have a chance to rebalance the playing field. Will our right resume playing the game as a contest, or continue to try to trash the field?

Source: Australia might be saving our democracy. Can the UK and US? – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Uncategorized

Canada’s Elites Stand Ready to Defend the Monarchy

Australia’s elites not only believe but speak much the same as do Newzealanders with one exception they have no treaty with their Indigenous peoples, no Bill of Rights and believe neither is needed.

Even though most Canadians would prefer an elected head of state, Charles III is the country’s new king. But enduring monarchism does suit Canadian elites, whose worldview is sustained by the idea of inherited privilege and power embodied by the crown.

Source: Canada’s Elites Stand Ready to Defend the Monarchy

UK

Elizabeth’s legacy: the enduring Australian monarchy – Michael West

We are glorifying an individual when we should be denying the system of Imperial Colinisation she represented despite the Commonwealth.

In 1954, Elizabeth stood at Farm Cove in Sydney, where Captain Arthur Phillip landed in 1788, and celebrated it as the birthplace of the nation. Our consciousness has changed. The Queen saw Australia as a young nation. Now we boast of the oldest continuing occupation by a people.

The crowds got smaller and less voluble with every visit, but Elizabeth cemented the monarchy over the years. If it was not only showmanship, it was attention to detail. John Cain, Victorian premier 1982-90, met her during celebrations for 150 years of Victorian statehood in 1984. ‘’I knew your father,’’ she told him. That was John Cain senior, premier 1952-55. A young monarch might have had other things on her mind. Mind like a steel trap.

King Charles III is an underwhelming prospect for Australians. He is 73, but he could go 20 years. His mother would have ignored many a gentle hint (she was apparently a bit sniffy whenever a European queen would abdicate).

There will be another referendum on a republic, but when?

Elizabeth’s legacy: the enduring Australian monarchy – Michael West

Elizabeth’s legacy: the enduring Australian monarchy – Michael West

Climate, Uncategorized

Australia and the United States Finally Move Ahead on Climate – » The Australian Independent Media Network

However it’s no longer good enough when BP is the biggest controler of solar energy in the country.

“Personally, as the new Labor Government backed by the Greens and Teal Independents proceeds with the 43% climate target laws and invests heavily in renewables. I hold out hope that the new Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek who has just rejected a new mega coal mine proposal for Clive Palmer in North Qld that horrendous developments like the Toondah Harbour PDA will also be rejected as well. I for see a better horizon forward on environmental policy making.”

Australia and the United States Finally Move Ahead on Climate – » The Australian Independent Media Network
UK

UK warned it faces Australian-like reputation damage over asylum seeker plan

Hope Hostel in Kigali, Rwanda will host unwanted asylum seekers from the UK.

The Abbott/Morrison legacy will be found in the UK deliveries of Asylum Seekers to Rawanda

“Given the lessons of the Australian experience, this carries a significant reputational risk for the UK.”

The UK Home Affairs select committee report into channel crossing, migration and asylum..

Source: UK warned it faces Australian-like reputation damage over asylum seeker plan

China

Statements by Coalition ministers soured China relationship: Wang

Whatsmore it all began with Murdoch media and revenge for having been kicked out of China. While Abbott was celebrating his leapfrog over the ALP’s relationship with China and the FTA. Murdoch press was on the attack and the crescendo came with Trump.

China’s Foreign Minister told Penny Wong that inflammatory statements by the Coalition government soured diplomatic relations that led to Australia being cut off from official communications, according to a statement issued from Beijing on Sunday.

Source: Statements by Coalition ministers soured China relationship: Wang

Refugees

Refugees and Changing Political Narratives – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia’s solutions over the last nine years leads one to doubt not just the humanity but the sanity of those who implemented the Morrison solutions. The United Kingdom under the apparently intellectually challenged and spoilt man-child Boris Johnson is merrily heading down the path that Australia created.

The same self-serving populist speak and a rather bizarre solution, sending refugees and asylum seekers to Rwanda. What would we find if we followed the money trails, both in Australia and the United Kingdom? There are still many questions left unanswered and the mainstream media is complicit by giving race baiting and populist propaganda oxygen.

Climate Change

A huge Atlantic ocean current is slowing down. If it collapses, La Niña could become the norm for Australia

No one laughs at God in a hospital but the LNP and Sky News After Dark do. Medicine like Climate science isn’t an exact but the Deniers appreciate and take advice from doctors if and when it suits their interests. When it doesn’t they become anti-vaxxers pout scream but still expect hospitals and doctors to take care of them and their children. Hospitals are dealing with more Covid now than ever before and now they blame Dan Andrews for giving them what they wanted. They check the weather forecasts and act accordingly but laugh at Climate science simply because it suits their interests to demand it to be exact not skeptical the very nature of the inquiry, research and it’s resulting predictions.

Climate change is slowing down the conveyor belt of ocean currents that brings warm water from the tropics up to the North Atlantic. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change, looks at the profound consequences to global climate if this Atlantic conveyor collapses entirely.

Source: A huge Atlantic ocean current is slowing down. If it collapses, La Niña could become the norm for Australia

Informed Comment

It is hard to fathom what a hateful place Australia has become – » The Australian Independent Media Network

We have become a hateful place over the last decade – suspicious of each other, greedy, unprincipled, uncaring, focused only on what’s in it for me.

The election showed the country is ready for a reset. It will be up to all of us to be part of that. We can and must do better.

Source: It is hard to fathom what a hateful place Australia has become – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Renewable energy

3 ways Australia can become a Renewable Energy Superpower – without Leaving anyone Behind

3 ways Australia could have been a Renewable Energy Super Power & 100 ways how Morrison’s LNP ignored it but for only 1 Reason “Power”

Australians will bear yet another blow to our cost of living in July when electricity prices will surge up to 18.3%, which amounts to over A$250 per year in some cases.

Source: 3 ways Australia can become a Renewable Energy Superpower – without Leaving anyone Behind

Murdoch Media

Watch how a Murdoch outlet in the founder’s native Australia supports gun control after mass shootings | Media Matters for America

screen grab

It’s the business of “Cash For Comment”. In Murdoch’s world  “Show Me Your Money” comes first, last , and is the determinator of the long term policy.

As the country reels from yet another horrific mass shooting, right-wing media outlets like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News are doing all they can to halt any progress on reforming the country’s gun laws. But a totally different story is being told in Australia — the original home of the Murdoch family’s media empire — where Murdoch outlets have instead touted the importance of gun safety, and are now highlighting the dangerous conditions of gun proliferation in the United States.

Murdoch’s news channel in Australia has celebrated the country’s gun control laws — and expressed hope that the U.S. would adopt similar ones

Source: Watch how a Murdoch outlet in the founder’s native Australia supports gun control after mass shootings | Media Matters for America

Murdoch Media

Leaked texts show Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo gave Trump White House questions she’d ask president in advance – Raw Story – Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

Leaked texts show Fox News' Maria Bartiromo gave Trump White House questions she'd ask president in advance

Murdoch Practice. In the UK criminal phone taps anything to get ahead of the competion. In US largely PR staging Interviews & promoting Republican interests while trashing the Dems. In Australia, simply being the largest private player in the nation’s quid pro quo cash for comment business.

On Friday, CNN reported that Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo supplied former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows with questions in advance of interviewing former President Donald Trump.

Source: Leaked texts show Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo gave Trump White House questions she’d ask president in advance – Raw Story – Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

History

Federation Built a Racist and Anti-Worker Australia

Unlike some nations, Australia’s origin story wasn’t marked by revolution or a democratic movement. Rather, it was a way for the colonial bourgeoisie to unite against the union movement and close the nation to non-white immigration.

Source: Federation Built a Racist and Anti-Worker Australia

Informed Comment

Racism in Australia is about the structures that ensure non-white people don’t get a fair go | Antoinette Lattouf | The Guardian

Scott Morrison and Danny Abdallah

Racism is Institutionally patterned behaviors generationally evolved historically and regarded as the norm. Some individuals were and are raised and socialized to internalize the cultural beliefs that support those behaviors as the norm. Others see them as unjustifiable systems, and merely socially constructed realities that can be altered and needn’t be maintained. Others see the need for them to be maintained and not altered to avoid disruption to the ” the natural order”. The ongoing though unequal  natural order in evolutions  struggle for power. Change has always been seen as a struggle forced not celebrated but resisted not encouraged by those whose social positon has benefited but not merited by what exists as opposed to what could and should have been. The distinction between Racism and  any Individual is far more complicated by the dichotomy of these macro v micro perspectives.

However, racism is far less about individual acts of kindness toward a grieving family (or, on the flip side, calling an Arab a “terrorist”) and far more about social systems and power structures that ensure non-white people don’t get a fair go. The Abdallahs had trauma and loss – not political power or economic influence. Towke was a young politician with a promising career that he alleges was taken from him, accusing Morrison of using his racial background against him. “I would have been the first Australian of Lebanese heritage to be a federal member of parliament on the Liberal party side and that’s a bit of history there which they stole from me,” he told The Project. Morrison has categorically denied what he describes as “malicious” claims. But it doesn’t matter whether you’re “team Abdallah” or “team Towke” when it comes to the truth about the prime minister. It’s almost inconsequential. Australia’s racism is bigger than one man – even if he is the leader of the country.

Source: Racism in Australia is about the structures that ensure non-white people don’t get a fair go | Antoinette Lattouf | The Guardian

Australia's Shame

UN doesn’t ‘hold out’ hope Australia will act on climate change

 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently named Australia a “hold out” on setting stronger emissions reduction targets, writes Michael Mazengarb.

Source: UN doesn’t ‘hold out’ hope Australia will act on climate change

Russia

India’s refusal to condemn Russia not an issue for Australia: Barry O’Farrell

Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, and Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, at the Australia India Institute.

When Diplomacy and Hypocrisy stand shoulder to shoulder it’s generally over more than one issue. Australia India and Russia aren’t signatories to the Glasgow Emissions Target agreement on Climate either. We and they are all pro-coal, fossil fuels and stand alone against the rest of the world including the Australian electorate. How is it this Australian Government can declare that the friend of my enemy is our friend and still pretend to support Ukraine? They just do it without qualification expecting we will vote for them? The Morrison Government’s legacy is tarnishing us in the eyes of the world. It’s no wonder why Biden couldn’t remember ScaMo’s name but Trump could.

Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, says the Modi government’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not an issue for Australia. Mr O’Farrell, the former premier of NSW, made the remarks at an event in New Delhi for the Australia India Institute, which is led by former Labor senator Lisa Singh. Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, and Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, at the Australia India Institute. Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, and Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, at the Australia India Institute. Australia has expressed concern about suggestions India could bypass Western sanctions via a bespoke banking system and India has been forced to defend its decision to buy up cheap Russian oil. Asked whether India’s “perceived neutrality” on Russia posed concerns for the newly revived Quad alliance – comprising Australia, the United States, India and Japan – O’Farrell said Australia opposed Putin’s war but respected India’s different stance. “In relation to what’s happening in Ukraine, Australia’s made our position very clear – Australia understands India’s position,”

Source: India’s refusal to condemn Russia not an issue for Australia: Barry O’Farrell

Communist Party, History

How the Communist Party of Australia Built a Mass Movement

The very notion of Democracy and the Separation of Powers lead to a Godless State. However, Scott Morrison believes he was chosen to correct that. He believes he’s more than a member of an elected government but a member of God’s “elect” born to rule and that’s why he’s neither a liar nor a bully. He’s simply right!!

For much of the twentieth century, communism was a global movement, with branches in almost every nation, that sought to do away with the present state of things. It demanded and inspired unswerving loyalty from its members, who built a counterculture embracing almost every aspect of their lives. In this way, communist parties were unlike typical bourgeois parties, who extend politics only to elections and stakeholder management.

Source: How the Communist Party of Australia Built a Mass Movement

History

How the Communist Party of Australia Built a Mass Movement

This history has been cut from any schools curriculum

Though little discussed today, Australian communism was a movement that changed the lives of its members — and the course of national history.

Source: How the Communist Party of Australia Built a Mass Movement

Uncategorized

Putinism is breeding in the heart of the Republican party | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Given Australia’s L-NP is little more than a carbon copy of GOP policies Putanism is also breeding in their heart. Surveillance of Australians has never been greater than the degree to which it has under Peter Dutton and he wants it increased. He wants politician’s parliamentary privilege extended beyond Parliament to be able to defend and sue defamation cases at will and taxpayers’ expense.

The L-NP wants criticism stifled by putting restrictions in place on social media for individuals, disallowing the ABC and Independent media a source of income but ensuring the corporate MSM has theirs. Basically guaranteeing their quid pro quo relationship is in tact and will continue. Lets face it, Murdoch is currently Putin, the GOP’s and the Australian Liberal Party’s biggest supporter and Murdoch is Putin’s in the West. Fox News is even being dubbed and replayed on Russian State Media.

Make no mistake: Putin’s authoritarian neo-fascism has rooted itself in America. It may be possible to prevent Putin’s aggression from spreading to the rest of Europe. But it is not possible to win a cold civil war inside America without destroying the United States – another of Putin’s objectives when he ordered his spy agencies to help Trump.

Source: Putinism is breeding in the heart of the Republican party | Robert Reich | The Guardian

Uncategorized

New IPCC report shows Australia is at real risk from climate change, with impacts worsening, future risks high, and wide-ranging adaptation needed

Peter Dutton runs a Go Fund Me Campaign for flood victims in order to try to save the Government. That’s standard for an IQ like his.

Climatic trends, extreme conditions and sea level rise are already hitting many of Australia’s ecosystems, industries and cities hard. As climate change intensifies, we are now seeing cascading and compounding impacts and risks, including where extreme events coincide. These are placing even greater pressure on our ability to respond. While the work of adaptation has begun, we have found the progress is uneven and insufficient, given the risks we face. These findings are from our work as co-authors of the new Australia and New Zealand chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation, released today.

Source: New IPCC report shows Australia is at real risk from climate change, with impacts worsening, future risks high, and wide-ranging adaptation needed

Commentary

How the Left Stopped Fascists From Organizing in Australia

Given what we are witnessing today in Canada, the U.S, and the EU does this still hold true. The demonstrations in the ACT say otherwise.  The organization and money is flowing but from the top-down. There’s cyber communication instigating chaos in all the world’s Democracies under the guise of “freedom” in order to make Authoritarian and Totalitarian nations seem more stable unoppressed and palatable. This is a financed coordinated action that’s drawn in disparate groups of individuals neo-Nazis, nationalists, false flaggers but not any Unions or the Left. Scott Morrison knows well they aren’t from the left so fails to condemn them as he would if they were ANTIFA. It’s why he prefers to say he “understands where they are coming from”. If any were ANTIFA would Morrison be so “understanding”?

This article seems more a cry for help  and is rather a celebration and reminder of history in order for the left to become more active in our current circumstance. The most active action at present is to get rid of the Morrison L-NP.

Far-right organizing in Australia is nothing new. But time and again, coalitions of anti-fascists, union militants, and community organizations have stymied the far right’s rise. That history stands as a resource for the Left to draw from today.

anti-fascists in Australia have beat back the threat of far-right violence time and again. From the Unemployed Workers Movement of the 1930s to Community Action Against Racism in the late 1980s and early ’90s, their lessons stand out clearly. To beat the far right, we need to unite people on the streets while confronting racism head-on and building broad coalitions that include unions and community organizations.

Source: How the Left Stopped Fascists From Organizing in Australia

"For Coal", Murdoch Media

Fox News is filling its editor positions with GOP operatives and Trump staffers | Media Matters for America

Republican Party and Fox News

There is, and will be, no turnaround by Murdoch Media in this up and coming election. They are currently the Government’s media voice and have had an 8- year investment in place to keep the LNP in government. It’s simply their business model. The undeclared sponsorship of the L-NP voiced across Australia.

Since the start of President Joe Biden’s term, Fox News has hired at least nine editors who previously worked for former President Donald Trump’s administration, Republican campaign offices, or Republican politicians. Many of those editors now cover politics for FoxNews.com. Fox’s Republican hiring spree has come as the network has further cast aside its so-called “news” division in favor of right-wing opinion and Republican-friendly “reporting.” (The division between Fox News’ “opinion” and “news” division has always been a sham.)

Source: Fox News is filling its editor positions with GOP operatives and Trump staffers | Media Matters for America

Western Australia

Slip, sliding away: is Western Australia doing a bit of conscious uncoupling from the rest of Oz? – Michael West Media

Or are they merely escaping the Moronic Morrison Methods for more practical solutions in the face of Covid-19 with OmicronJosh and Scott banging on their door yelling “Open up we’ll keep you safe”

Is a third of the Australian continent planning to stay cut off from the other two-thirds forever. Mark Sawyer ponders the future of the great state of Western Australia.

Source: Slip, sliding away: is Western Australia doing a bit of conscious uncoupling from the rest of Oz? – Michael West Media

Education

Florida Lawmakers Wants To Put Microphones On Teachers | Crooks and Liars

Florida Lawmakers Wants To Put Microphones On Teachers

The Republicans demand stricter Voting ID and like good camp followers Australia’s LNP suggest the same. Republicans demand stricter education measures Australia’s LNP fight for the same. Morrison is against Lockdowns anti-mandates all Republican Trump decrees Morrison adopts the same plan. It looks like a game of Simon Says. Does the Morrison government have any original policies?

The assault on teachers in this country by Republicans continues as a new bill proposed by Florida State Rep. Bob Rommel would allow cameras in the classroom as well as put microphones on teachers to monitor what they say.

Source: Florida Lawmakers Wants To Put Microphones On Teachers | Crooks and Liars

Trump

Trump’s troops: The far-right has a tight grip on too many in uniform | Salon.com

(Getty/Spencer Platt)

Where would Australia be if Trump wins and the Military assisted him in a coup? Morrison has modeled his Government far more on Trump than he has Biden.

He’s right of Trump on Climate Change an an anti- Mandater on vaccines and  lockdowns, “let it rip” his pandemic message. He’s far more aggressively anti- China a manufactured message for domestic  politics. He fundamentally is a Trumpster on borders, media, education, and health. Even the 200% increase in government debt is no longer an issue. By and large, the likelihood of us participating in a war and being a greater target than we were in 2013 has increased insurmountably. Our reliance on a Trump America has been welded by Morrison’s LNP. Unfortunately We saw what happened to the Kurds in Syria, those left behind in  Afghanistan, and weakening ties to the EU under Trump while he cozied up to Russia, Nth Korea, Hungary, and other dictators. Morrison and Abbott have dragged Australia’s reputaion in the eyes of the world to the worst it’s ever been.

The prospect of members of law enforcement agencies and the military breaking off into rogue commands seems like something out of a political thriller. And it’s probably not very likely. But then the election of Donald Trump was unlikely as was the insurrection of January 6th. I would have thought it unlikely that police officers would defend a vicious mob beating other cops with flagpoles or that active duty military would boldly participate in it. We all should recognize by now that anything can happen.

Source: Trump’s troops: The far-right has a tight grip on too many in uniform | Salon.com

Politics

Politics isn’t super-appealing to women in Australia right now. Is it different elsewhere? – ABC News

A composite shows close-up portraits of Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, Kaja Kallas, Najla Bouden and Magdalena Andersson

In fact, with less than a third of Lower House seats filled by women, Australia is currently ranked 56th in the world when it comes to female representation in parliament, according to figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union. So what’s holding Australia back while women elsewhere are seemingly smashing through glass ceilings to hold top office?

Source: Politics isn’t super-appealing to women in Australia right now. Is it different elsewhere? – ABC News

UK

Britain’s Two Job Politicians – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The lines seem awfully blurred to me when you see the jobs politicians get post-politics and even more when contracts are handed out untendered it’s extremely difficult to tell when decisions for commissions are made as they were in the case of McGuire. Matthew Guy was sprung in a case realestate insider trading with friends in Philip Island.  Land deals are regularly seen to benefit MPs as is their good fortune and opportunity for insider trading. Or money parked in anonymous accounts even promised at a later date. The bigger problem is that being it’s becoming an increasingly accepted practice and accepted by a apathetic electorate. Councilmen and politician corruption has become the norm in Australia. It has seen us  fall under the International corruption scale. Should we be surprised to find things were far better 8 years ago on most social metrics even corruption?

The role of the parliamentarian, historically, is one of service. The desire to hold two jobs, or more, suggests that such service is severely qualified. In the quotient of democracy and representation, the MP who is ready to tend to the affairs of others is unlikely to focus on the voter. I represent you, but I also represent my client who so happens to be parking his cash in offshore tax havens. I represent you, but I am moonlighting as an advisor for an armaments company. This condition has become rather acute in the British political scene. While a backbencher earns £81,932 annually plus expenses, they may pursue consultancies in the private sector as long as they do not engage in lobbying – a ridiculous fine line. Astonishingly, there is no limit on the number of hours they may spend on these additional jobs. Accordingly, members of parliament have shown marked confusion on how to separate their various jobs. Every so often, business has tended to find its way into the member’s office.

Source: Britain’s Two Job Politicians – » The Australian Independent Media Network

USA

American Institutions Are Not Taking the Threat of Right-Wing Violence Seriously Enough | Washington Monthly

Australian Institutions have been historically actively in persecuting left-wing thinking if it moved too far left for conservatives. The false flag cry today has always been ANTIFA ANTIFA

It’s hard to talk about the threat of right-wing violence without sounding alarmist. After all, America has made it this far without succumbing to fascism—and the creaky institutional guardrails have held during national emergencies, including the Trump years. Even the January 6 insurrectionists didn’t have the look of a competent paramilitary force. It can’t happen here, right? But it’s time to start getting alarmed—and for our institutions to respond accordingly. Right-wing and white supremacist domestic terrorism is at highs not seen since the Jim Crow era. QAnon and Q-adjacent conspiracy theories have metastasized political disagreements and underlying racist and misogynist sentiments in the minds of millions of conservatives, some of whom now believe they are engaging in a battle with cannibal pedophile agents of Satan who steal every election. These wild and unfounded beliefs, in turn, provide them justification for almost any kind of violence in response.

Source: American Institutions Are Not Taking the Threat of Right-Wing Violence Seriously Enough | Washington Monthly

LNP, LNP Government

Australia ranked last for climate policies, 58th overall out of 64 countries

Australia’s climate policies have been ranked last out of 64 countries and the nation among the worst offenders for emissions, renewables and energy use.

Source: Australia ranked last for climate policies, 58th overall out of 64 countries

Climate Change

COP26: Biden first President to Back Sweeping Measures on Climate, as for-profit Press lets Denialist Republicans off the Hook

America and The UK have left Australia eating their dust

Biden is the first president to take the climate emergency seriously as an emergency. He has many levers of power to begin turning the USS America around on this issue, and if he can get us headed in the right direction, that will have enormous downstream impacts on our future and the future of the globe.

Source: COP26: Biden first President to Back Sweeping Measures on Climate, as for-profit Press lets Denialist Republicans off the Hook

Coal

Asia’s energy pivot is a warning to Australia: clinging to coal is bad for the economy

The COP26 climate negotiations are just weeks away, and the tide is now turning against international finance of coal-fired power generation. The implications for Australia cannot be ignored.

Source: Asia’s energy pivot is a warning to Australia: clinging to coal is bad for the economy

Afghanistan

Afghan army deserter Hekmatullah, who murdered three Australian soldiers, freed from custody in Qatar – ABC News

Three caskets are carried by three groups of soldiers into the back of an aircraft, on a runway at a military base

We seem more concerned about the freeing of an Afghan soldier who killed 3 Australians than we do about Australian soldiers accused of criminally murdering Afghan innocents. Something suggests we don’t regard Afgan lives as quite the same? Given we recently saw the status of the Afghan army can he legitimately even be called a deserter?

Hekmatullah killed three Australian soldiers while they were playing cards in 2012 He spent seven years in prison in Afghanistan, but was transferred to Qatar last year during US-Taliban peace talks He was released from custody when the Taliban retook Kabul in August, and his whereabouts cannot be verified

Source: Afghan army deserter Hekmatullah, who murdered three Australian soldiers, freed from custody in Qatar – ABC News

The World

Road to net zero: What the world thinks about Australia’s climate policy

climate change World leaders slam Australia's climate change policy

Australia is becoming a pariah on the world stage when it comes to climate policy. From initially refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, to remaining dependent on coal, successive Australian governments have repeatedly adopted policies that put them at odds with their foreign counterparts. Ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, here’s what world leaders and environmentalists have said about Australia’s climate change track record.

Source: Road to net zero: What the world thinks about Australia’s climate policy

Uncategorized

Zoe Daniel: Americans now think Australians are crazy

Zoe Daniel

But while many Australians have seen uniformed officers enforcing COVID restrictions as an overreach, especially in poor and culturally diverse communities, some Americans are more outraged than we are. Just as Australians don’t understand the American psyche when it comes to things like gun rights, many freedom loving Americans just do not get why most Australians have tolerated such harsh limits on their liberty during the pandemic. That’s despite the huge disparity in infection and death rates between the two countries.

Source: Zoe Daniel: Americans now think Australians are crazy