During his recent National Press Club appearance, former PM Paul Keating scolded mainstream media journalists — who deserved every stinging syllable of his pinpoint-accurate words, writes Belinda Jones.
Whenever you think the political world has gone quiet, a bit of scratching on the surface reveals that the early frenetic pace set by the Albanese Government has kept up its earlier pace.
Ms Surgeoner started microsing on psilocybin mushrooms when she felt herself struggling for motivation
She’s among a growing number of people who are microdosing psychedelics to ease anxiety and depression
The evidence on whether the drugs are effective has so far been a mixed bag
There’s been a lot of hype around microdosing psychedelics as a potential treatment for depression, anxiety and PTSD — but what does the research actually say about it?
Morrison and Frydenberg were electioneering and telling us we have recovered and are now the best nation on the planet. We’re not! We don’t manufacture anymore. Not even our own cars since Abbott closed the industry down. Morrison wants us to be a top 10 “arms” manufacturer and the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporter. Mining took us up those 3 notches to 19th. All of which is at a cost that spells the death of the planet and the environment. Maybe Australia needs to lift its game and become less competitive in terms of old standards and find new ones to judge itself on.
We are a resource-rich nation like no other of sun, wind, and oceans and have the potential to be less destructive of our flora fauna land, and the planet on which we rely. We need to become a 23rd-century Indigenous nation.
Frydenbergs “great Fundamentals
Australia’s strong trade performance and pandemic recovery has elevated the nation’s international competitiveness by three spots to 19th in a global survey of 63 countries.
This came after Australia fell to its lowest ranking in 25 years in 2021, the Institute for Management Development World Competitiveness Yearbook showed on Tuesday.
However, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia think tank has warned Australia’s future competitiveness is not assured without lifting its game in a number of areas.
This includes technology, energy, skills and training, entrepreneurship, tax and productivity.
Australia’s worst ranking was in the entrepreneurship category, standing at 61 out of the 63 countries, while workplace productivity tumbled from 20 to 41.
WHILST successive Australian governments have claimed unwavering public support for the alliance with the United States, the undercurrents of concern about it are strong enough to have sparked two public inquiries into attitudes to the alliance in the last year.
Sky News is prompting that the Liberals need to move even further right than the nationals to create an identity distinct from Labor. That alone tells us their only attention is to themselves and not the nation or the common good. Some among them even seem to regard Neo Nazis as too left-wing. We’ve seen how Angus Taylor knows how to strike water deals with Barnaby, haven’t we? It’s all in-house and with taxpayer money.
Project backed by the National party is expected to top $162,000 per megalitre if cost recovery is pursued
Some countries are taking positive steps. The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance that aims to phase out production is key to cutting supply of fossil fuels. Multilateral action such as this, whether as part of COP or outside it – and, crucially, the pressure from below that causes it – must be a focus if we’re to avoid climate change.
In short, the Government’s offshore detention policy makes no rational sense and therefore we must look at the political reasons for its existence. It then becomes clear that asylum seekers are simply being used for political gain and are political prisoners of the Australian Government.
Are Australians satisfied with innocent people being imprisoned in their name? Is this what we want in a government? If the Government thought Australians did not want them to put asylum seekers in offshore detention, then they wouldn’t, since their reasons for doing so are purely political. Therefore, we should ask ourselves whether we want to let the Government continue believing that this is what Australians want, effectively sending a message to the world that we are a racist country? Do we want to live in a society that collectively abuses the human rights of asylum seekers?
Definitions of fascism tend to sound like neoliberalism’s mission statement, listing elements critical to the business model of … call them what you will: the wealthy elites, the one percent, the military/industrial complex, the economic rationalists, the political hard right, the corporate predators of neoliberalism … in other words, those who profit from chaos.
Socialism to fascists is what Kryptonite is to Superman. Fascists hate socialism, communism, even conservatism, which can appear too moderate in the eyes of these far-right bully boys. To fascists, concepts such as “human rights” and “social justice” are irrelevant.
Aspiring fascists prowl the corridors and back alleys of our federal parliament and public service.
Home Affairs, Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton presides over a vast portfolio which, it could be argued, places too much power over others in the hands of one man.
olddogthoughts 