With five minutes left on its first term in office, the Albanese government has finally announced something that looks like the kind of policy it was elected to enact.
Scott Morrison just said the AUkUS submarines he contracted to buy “ can’t come soon enough “
If we can only get the Chinese frigate and cruiser to hold still for the next 30 years when our contingent of nuclear powered submarines arrive we will be safe as houses.
The media never picked up the absurdity of these comments.
Trying to be LNP lite is a joke. Let’s stop aping these fools. The US has gone fully rogue. As Keating said years ago we have to find our security within Asia not from Asia.
Start taxing our mining, gas and multi national corps appropriately. Tax carbon ( again ) Move to property and land taxes on all expensive homes used now as a tax haven. Fund publlc schools - finally.
A much needed analysis Joel. The most recent Resolve Poll, although potentially an outlier, is diabolical.
Throughout all of the last 3 years, the ALP has arrogantly ignored the crossbench and helped revive the LNP by pursuing a 2-term strategy when the ALP’s primary vote from 2022 suggests it’s less likely to happen.
If the ALP get back in via minority, time to ditch Albanese and get someone who hasn’t been in Parliament so long and holds massive antipathy to the Greens. The electoral financing legislation shows how Albanese is very comfortable with working with the right wing and denying choice to voters.
Given Labor's failure to deliver promised positive action on the environment and elsewhere I can't find it in me to trust Labor will fully implement the medicare plan - it's pushed out across two election cycles for a start.
For me Labor are well and truly over, little more than the faction of the conservative movement that markets to progressive voters, but only as a decoy, with no intention of actually delivering progressive policy.
This is unfortunate, it seemed as though labor was going to secure my vote, especially considering how uninspiring the opposition is. But this last minute hail-Mary throw could have come a lot sooner. It reeks of vote buying.
You mention our politicians' lack of courage several times, and I concur. If someone has the audacity to present themselves as the leader of an entire nation, they'd best have a spine. Otherwise, stop bullshitting us and just admit that Rupert is the prime minister, the mining barons are the cabinet, and the US Empire is our head of state.
Labor outsourced its courage to The Greens years ago, and the Coalition wouldn't understand the concept, even if you handed them a dictionary opened at the relevant page.
Another excellent piece of work Joel. The road to Prime Minister has not created inspiration in Albo . Too scared to step outside the lines in case he offends someone, and loses his job. Surely with the alternative being Dutton it’s time to be more inspirational.
Why do we keep wanting to put our trust in any political party when they've already shown us who they are, and who they're beholden to? My bad boyfriend raped me on countless occasions but now he's sending me flowers I feel my hope springing eternal because I don't want to be single, I want to be looked after by the boyfriend who I want to pretend isn't going to rape me again.
There is no party that is going to get us where we want to be. Not one. Not now, not before, not in the future. We keep getting caught up in the sideshows. I'm not sure we want the cold reality, the sideshows are more comforting. There is someone to fight across the aisle with the sideshow. They're a safer bet than looking at the situation beyond the sideshow, of The Machine fucking us in the face, tightening the screws every day.
In order to accomplish anything that would tangibly improve the lives of ordinary Australians is going to require extraordinary powers of persuasion, fortitude and moral courage.
Where is this party? This group? This leader? It’s difficult to imagine finding what’s required from Albanese or this supine version of the ALP.
The frustration the overwhelming majority feel needs to be channeled productively or be harvested by charlatans and reactionaries. Time is not an inexhaustible resource, as current ALP strategy under Albanese appears to predicate itself upon. The backlash from the elites and shortsighted, selfish cohorts will be brutal.
Things cannot continue as they are, where our entire system is built on a real estate Ponzi scheme and giving away our resources to foreign corporations and grotesque local oligarchs like Rinehart.
Albanese is right to opine about the strategic importance of Whyalla. So what? Albo, grow a pair and nationalise it!
Australia has the opportunity, it now needs some real leadership to emerge, not detumescent managerialism.
Well said , especially about nationalising Whyalla . AND bringing back the CES from from profiteering private companies whose priority is PROFIT , not the vulnerable jobseekers
I guess the sad thing is that there is already a big-target policy—Future Made In Australia. It’s a plan to bring modern manufacturing to Australia and diversify our economy. Yet as you can see here, no one’s heard of it and no one’s talking about it.
It shouldn’t be this difficult for Labor. All they need to do is what their members want them to! Sadly, something is broken between the members and the leadership.
Magnificently well said , in every detail . This “small target “ nonsense is an insult to ALL Australians . Where is Gough Whitlam when we need him ? As for the cowardice in foreign policy , it depends upon the ignorance or apathy of too many voters . In my view the “icing on this cake” has been the refusal of a Labor government to make a significant move into the provision of Socjal Housing . Particularly when the PM has made such a big thing of his upbringing in that zone. It appears as though he has pulled up the ladder behind him for today’s homeless and vulnerable . Thank you so much for this important post . It’s about time the PM woke up to the dire needs of Australians , rather than prioritising the funds of corporate donors and THEIR agenda .
Spot-on, throughout!!! Labor should have had one overpaid staffer tracking Albo 24/7, ready to give him a kick on the shin or a wedgie every time he decided to 'me-too' any decision by the worst PM in our history. Pulling the pin on AUKUS would have created a tsunami of media condemnation (so what's new?), but right now would be looking prescient. And would provide a lot of $ to fund Labor policies that the IPA would hate, but actual people would embrace. Halting the persecution of Richard Boyle would have been a smash hit with the average voter, as well as The Right Thing To Do. Here's a tip, Albo : if you ever stumble across a Political Unicorn again, don't shoo it away!!! And how the NACC was allowed to become a shameful farce that would happily see the architects if Robodebt get off 'Scott free'.....words fail.
A meek Labor PM might try to flatter and appease Rupert (and inevitably, gain nothing at all), a bold one might stand up to the evil old bastard, aware that there is nothing to lose in doing so.
Date we hope to see a bold Albo emerge before it's too late?
In terms of the cost of living issue why not address the net-zero fantasy that has crippled industry & family households alike..? Blackout Bowen has continued to pursue this fruitless exercise, I say this based on the evidence.. it is found in a global response to nuclear power & drastic move away from 'renewable' energy, renewable?! The wind farms & panels have a small life-span and cannot be recycled due to the toxicity of the materials. The same very materials that are extracted from the precious earth by a number of child slave labour camps located in places like the Congo, all manufactured overseas and sold with inflated prices..
This is complete bullshit and utterly contradicted by the evidence (just for example, renewables are the fastest growing new source of electricity world wide and the pace just keeps accelerating as the learning curve sends prices plummeting).
Scott Morrison just said the AUkUS submarines he contracted to buy “ can’t come soon enough “
If we can only get the Chinese frigate and cruiser to hold still for the next 30 years when our contingent of nuclear powered submarines arrive we will be safe as houses.
The media never picked up the absurdity of these comments.
Trying to be LNP lite is a joke. Let’s stop aping these fools. The US has gone fully rogue. As Keating said years ago we have to find our security within Asia not from Asia.
Start taxing our mining, gas and multi national corps appropriately. Tax carbon ( again ) Move to property and land taxes on all expensive homes used now as a tax haven. Fund publlc schools - finally.
What are we waiting for.
ANZUS is dead. Neoliberalism is dead.
Brilliantly well said , in every detail . Especially the need to tax appropriately foreign-owned fossil fuel corporations .
A much needed analysis Joel. The most recent Resolve Poll, although potentially an outlier, is diabolical.
Throughout all of the last 3 years, the ALP has arrogantly ignored the crossbench and helped revive the LNP by pursuing a 2-term strategy when the ALP’s primary vote from 2022 suggests it’s less likely to happen.
If the ALP get back in via minority, time to ditch Albanese and get someone who hasn’t been in Parliament so long and holds massive antipathy to the Greens. The electoral financing legislation shows how Albanese is very comfortable with working with the right wing and denying choice to voters.
Given Labor's failure to deliver promised positive action on the environment and elsewhere I can't find it in me to trust Labor will fully implement the medicare plan - it's pushed out across two election cycles for a start.
For me Labor are well and truly over, little more than the faction of the conservative movement that markets to progressive voters, but only as a decoy, with no intention of actually delivering progressive policy.
This is unfortunate, it seemed as though labor was going to secure my vote, especially considering how uninspiring the opposition is. But this last minute hail-Mary throw could have come a lot sooner. It reeks of vote buying.
Correct , and this is a national tragedy
You mention our politicians' lack of courage several times, and I concur. If someone has the audacity to present themselves as the leader of an entire nation, they'd best have a spine. Otherwise, stop bullshitting us and just admit that Rupert is the prime minister, the mining barons are the cabinet, and the US Empire is our head of state.
Labor outsourced its courage to The Greens years ago, and the Coalition wouldn't understand the concept, even if you handed them a dictionary opened at the relevant page.
Another excellent piece of work Joel. The road to Prime Minister has not created inspiration in Albo . Too scared to step outside the lines in case he offends someone, and loses his job. Surely with the alternative being Dutton it’s time to be more inspirational.
….if only🤞🏽
Why do we keep wanting to put our trust in any political party when they've already shown us who they are, and who they're beholden to? My bad boyfriend raped me on countless occasions but now he's sending me flowers I feel my hope springing eternal because I don't want to be single, I want to be looked after by the boyfriend who I want to pretend isn't going to rape me again.
There is no party that is going to get us where we want to be. Not one. Not now, not before, not in the future. We keep getting caught up in the sideshows. I'm not sure we want the cold reality, the sideshows are more comforting. There is someone to fight across the aisle with the sideshow. They're a safer bet than looking at the situation beyond the sideshow, of The Machine fucking us in the face, tightening the screws every day.
In order to accomplish anything that would tangibly improve the lives of ordinary Australians is going to require extraordinary powers of persuasion, fortitude and moral courage.
Where is this party? This group? This leader? It’s difficult to imagine finding what’s required from Albanese or this supine version of the ALP.
The frustration the overwhelming majority feel needs to be channeled productively or be harvested by charlatans and reactionaries. Time is not an inexhaustible resource, as current ALP strategy under Albanese appears to predicate itself upon. The backlash from the elites and shortsighted, selfish cohorts will be brutal.
Things cannot continue as they are, where our entire system is built on a real estate Ponzi scheme and giving away our resources to foreign corporations and grotesque local oligarchs like Rinehart.
Albanese is right to opine about the strategic importance of Whyalla. So what? Albo, grow a pair and nationalise it!
Australia has the opportunity, it now needs some real leadership to emerge, not detumescent managerialism.
Well said , especially about nationalising Whyalla . AND bringing back the CES from from profiteering private companies whose priority is PROFIT , not the vulnerable jobseekers
Agreed. And regarding profiteering private companies, the same could be said of aged care, health insurance, primary and secondary schools...
As EG Whitlam said back then, "Labor is a party of reform, or it stands for nothing."
Excellent analysis. Thanks Joel
I guess the sad thing is that there is already a big-target policy—Future Made In Australia. It’s a plan to bring modern manufacturing to Australia and diversify our economy. Yet as you can see here, no one’s heard of it and no one’s talking about it.
It shouldn’t be this difficult for Labor. All they need to do is what their members want them to! Sadly, something is broken between the members and the leadership.
Donors and the Mullahs of Murdochristan?
Magnificently well said , in every detail . This “small target “ nonsense is an insult to ALL Australians . Where is Gough Whitlam when we need him ? As for the cowardice in foreign policy , it depends upon the ignorance or apathy of too many voters . In my view the “icing on this cake” has been the refusal of a Labor government to make a significant move into the provision of Socjal Housing . Particularly when the PM has made such a big thing of his upbringing in that zone. It appears as though he has pulled up the ladder behind him for today’s homeless and vulnerable . Thank you so much for this important post . It’s about time the PM woke up to the dire needs of Australians , rather than prioritising the funds of corporate donors and THEIR agenda .
Spot-on, throughout!!! Labor should have had one overpaid staffer tracking Albo 24/7, ready to give him a kick on the shin or a wedgie every time he decided to 'me-too' any decision by the worst PM in our history. Pulling the pin on AUKUS would have created a tsunami of media condemnation (so what's new?), but right now would be looking prescient. And would provide a lot of $ to fund Labor policies that the IPA would hate, but actual people would embrace. Halting the persecution of Richard Boyle would have been a smash hit with the average voter, as well as The Right Thing To Do. Here's a tip, Albo : if you ever stumble across a Political Unicorn again, don't shoo it away!!! And how the NACC was allowed to become a shameful farce that would happily see the architects if Robodebt get off 'Scott free'.....words fail.
A meek Labor PM might try to flatter and appease Rupert (and inevitably, gain nothing at all), a bold one might stand up to the evil old bastard, aware that there is nothing to lose in doing so.
Date we hope to see a bold Albo emerge before it's too late?
In terms of the cost of living issue why not address the net-zero fantasy that has crippled industry & family households alike..? Blackout Bowen has continued to pursue this fruitless exercise, I say this based on the evidence.. it is found in a global response to nuclear power & drastic move away from 'renewable' energy, renewable?! The wind farms & panels have a small life-span and cannot be recycled due to the toxicity of the materials. The same very materials that are extracted from the precious earth by a number of child slave labour camps located in places like the Congo, all manufactured overseas and sold with inflated prices..
Who gains here again?
Sacrifice the ground for the sake of the sky?
This is complete bullshit and utterly contradicted by the evidence (just for example, renewables are the fastest growing new source of electricity world wide and the pace just keeps accelerating as the learning curve sends prices plummeting).