OZ Politics

135

Comments

  • We'll find out today when he gives evidence...
  • Oh, did not read this yesterday:
    There has been an unfortunate accident where my phones and iPad have been run over with a tractor.

    — Daryl Maguire (via business associate Maggie Wang)
    These people really treat us voters like mugs...
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    You wonder just how Gladys could have fallen for him, so far he's shown precious little. Perhaps his evidence today will make more clear.
  • An acquaintance of mine was a constituent of his. The electorate nickname for him was Daryl Dolittle. Obviously he did something for Gladys.
  • TukaiTukai Shipmate
    IN the ACT election held last Saturday (with 70% of votes pre-polled), it is clear that Labor have been returned, Greens have gained (they could win 5 seats out of 25 ). Final couple of seats will take a few more days to be decided owing to the complex preference system operating here.
  • Simon ToadSimon Toad Shipmate
    edited October 2020
    I saw a bit of Rod Sims' address to the National Press Club about the importance of limiting market power as we pull out of Covid (not that we are going to be doing that for a while). I was impressed.

    The link is to iview. I wasn't able to find it on youtube.
  • The Liberals have been on the out of ACT I understand for a while. They seem to have conservative candidates in what I read is a not overly conservative territory.

    Meanwhile, a $3,000 Cartier watch could be yours if you were an Australia Post exec. And $97 mill in bonuses seems a lot for a year. I truly wonder what world these people live in.
  • orfeoorfeo Shipmate
    Climacus wrote: »
    The Liberals have been on the out of ACT I understand for a while. They seem to have conservative candidates in what I read is a not overly conservative territory.

    Meanwhile, a $3,000 Cartier watch could be yours if you were an Australia Post exec. And $97 mill in bonuses seems a lot for a year. I truly wonder what world these people live in.

    1. We've had Labor in power in the ACT for 19 years. And yes, these days there's an ongoing conversation about how the more conservative wing of the Liberal party tend to be in control of the party, and how that really doesn't work here. There's a distinct possibility that each wing of the party gets to take a turn at leading and failing...

    2. The world of corporations. I do find it slightly amusing that there's all this outrage about Australia Post executives behaving like corporate executives, when the decision has been explicitly made to set it up as a business rather than as a government agency providing a public service. What did they expect?

  • spot on Orfeo. My solution is to go back to a service, but many ordinary people have put money into Australia Post franchises (if that is the situation), and we can't be ripping them off.
  • No.

    And good point.

    Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's documents approving of council grants were shredded by her office. The mind, or at least mine, boggles.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    She has not come out of this enquiry very well, has she.
  • No, she hasn't Gee D. It is a great pity in my view. I viewed her as a safe pair of hands. Mind you, how I wish we had an ICAC like you do. Ours can't investigate politicians...
  • Having spent four decades in the NSW public education system, my view is that apart from the dubious decision-making, the officers who appeared today have committed offences under the State Records Act [I think that's the right one - 10 years since I finished work]. I would certainly have been disciplined if not charged.
  • orfeoorfeo Shipmate
    edited October 2020
    Final ACT results are in.

    Labor down from 12 seats to 10.
    Liberal down from 11 seats to 9.
    Greens up from 2 seats to 6!

    Really quite a surprise. The Greens vote went up enough to gain them a quota in 4 out of 5 electorates. Suddenly they have a member in every electorate, and 2 in the inner north where they're strongest.

    EDIT: The Liberals are going to need to go down a moderate path just so they don't get the situation that happened this time, where for the first time the Greens preemptively ruled out supporting a Liberal government.
  • Very interesting. Thanks for the results and commentary.
  • MaramaMarama Shipmate
    orfeo wrote: »
    Final ACT results are in.

    EDIT: The Liberals are going to need to go down a moderate path just so they don't get the situation that happened this time, where for the first time the Greens preemptively ruled out supporting a Liberal government.

    Indeed. Trying to promote a socially conservative agenda in the most progressive town in Australia won't work. Nor will promoting magic pudding economics in a highly educated town - or stunts that might impress three-year olds. And vetting their candidates better would be a good idea - at least one caused the Libs embarrassment.
  • So it turns out the watches were $20,000. Oh well.

    And ASIC. ASIC! Is there to be no end of this...

    Am I just not remembering past years or is this year particularly terrible?
  • Oh, and Crikey reports we have an application for a new party:
    Over the weekend the Australian Electoral Commission announced a notice of application for registration for the No5G Party.
    Oh. Joy.
  • rofl. I wonder if it is a liberal front...
  • WormInTheGrassWormInTheGrass Shipmate
    edited November 2020
    The High Court has ruled in favour of the rest of us and the WA government.
    Clive Palmer is having a good week

    Fixed broken URL. BroJames, Purgatory Host
  • I love that we can just laugh at bastards like Clive Palmer.
  • orfeoorfeo Shipmate
    edited November 2020
    The High Court has ruled in favour of the rest of us and the WA government.
    Clive Palmer is having a good week

    That link needs fixing. It has a double-up on http/https.

    Fixed! BroJames, Purgatory Host
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Clive Palmer needs fixing also.....
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    I can (usually) fix links. Fixing politicians is beyond my remit.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    You can probably fix a tomcat also. (BTW - Clive Palmer is a businessman, not a politician).
  • grubby businessman, almost as big a loser as Trump.
  • Gee D wrote: »
    You can probably fix a tomcat also. (BTW - Clive Palmer is a businessman, not a politician).

    All you need is a gumboot & a pocket knife....

  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Gee D wrote: »
    You can probably fix a tomcat also. (BTW - Clive Palmer is a businessman, not a politician).

    Nope. I’ve checked the manual. I can’t fix businessmen either.
  • Thank you for fixing link, @BroJames. It did appear to working when I previewed it. Sadly, I’m not sure Clive Palmer can be made to change track.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    BroJames wrote: »
    Gee D wrote: »
    You can probably fix a tomcat also. (BTW - Clive Palmer is a businessman, not a politician).

    Nope. I’ve checked the manual. I can’t fix businessmen either.

    You'd never get all of Palmer into a gum boot.
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    Rockhampton is an interesting example of what happens if only two candidates run for mayor - one a traditional politician and one an eccentric activist - the traditional politician wins, but is forced to resign and under current Queensland law the mayoral position goes to whoever came second in the previous election. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/10/rough-end-of-the-pineapple-queensland-labor-moves-to-oust-barefoot-climate-activist-as-rockhampton-mayor .

    Queensland is now trying to change the law so there has to be a by-election to choose the new mayor. Though the experienced mayor, Strelow, made a strange video while wearing a bubble wrap dress, so her opponent, Chris 'Pineapple' Hooper does not seem to be the only eccentric.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Surely a bubble-wrap dress would be too hot in your climate???? She should have chosen something more suitable, perhaps fishnet?
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    She said she was wearing bubble wrap for protection. I'm guessing metaphorically? Fishnet would make about as much sense though.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Bubble-wrap would keep the mozzies away.
  • Help! A teenage in-law of mine in Oz, I have just heard, is a big Trump supporter (and has apparently become one over the course of the past year - he seemed to be very critical of Trump when I was there a year and a half ago). He even sides with Trump in challenging the election results as tainted. This is hearsay so far and I need to hear it from him before I will fully believe it, but my Australian husband (who is an American citizen and very emphatically voted against Trump) is heartbroken by the news.

    Do any of you know of other young Australian Trump supporters? If so, do the ones you know seem to just be rebelling or following some subcultural fad, or do you think they really understand his policies and the effects of his rhetoric and support him anyway? Do you think they understand the historical, cultural, and racial contexts of the US that lead Americans to support or oppose him? (Australians tend to know more about US history and politics than the average American, although I don't know about Australian teenagers.)
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    Has he also got sucked into any Australian far right groups or adopted far right beliefs he has read online? Or got involved in the Q conspiracy stuff? Generally passionate Trump supporters in Australia also support at least one of those areas. The only people I know who have said they would vote for Trump if they were American are middle aged or older Pentecostals who are nice people but very anti-abortion and would vote for Trump on that issue alone. They don't particularly like Trump though. Also where in Australia does he live?
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    We live in a very conservative part of Sydney. The Liberal (ie conservative) party candidate has rarely slipped below 60% of the first preference vote at any federal election since the seat was created 70 years ago, and normally gets in the mid-60s upwards. The general attitude of people around here, judging from chats over coffee, in the street and so forth, is that Trump is a joke and it's a good thing for the US that he's gone. We've not heard one person defend him. If that's the opinion of those of voting age, it's hard to see how the following generation would be supporting him. Not at all sure just how serious your relation is.
  • Mili wrote: »
    Has he also got sucked into any Australian far right groups or adopted far right beliefs he has read online? Or got involved in the Q conspiracy stuff? Generally passionate Trump supporters in Australia also support at least one of those areas. The only people I know who have said they would vote for Trump if they were American are middle aged or older Pentecostals who are nice people but very anti-abortion and would vote for Trump on that issue alone. They don't particularly like Trump though. Also where in Australia does he live?

    Near Penrith. I don't know about the conspiracy theory stuff as I haven't spoken to him about it yet - I've only heard about it through family. I'm not sure how conservative he is in terms of religion but he is fine with having gay members of the family.
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    He may be influenced by friends online. I guess you or his closer family would need to talk to him to find out more
  • Gee D wrote: »
    We live in a very conservative part of Sydney. The Liberal (ie conservative) party candidate has rarely slipped below 60% of the first preference vote at any federal election since the seat was created 70 years ago, and normally gets in the mid-60s upwards. The general attitude of people around here, judging from chats over coffee, in the street and so forth, is that Trump is a joke and it's a good thing for the US that he's gone. We've not heard one person defend him. If that's the opinion of those of voting age, it's hard to see how the following generation would be supporting him. Not at all sure just how serious your relation is.

    Is the part of Sydney you live in full of university-educated Liberal party supporters who like lower taxes and smaller government? Ie, the type of people who in the US would often be Never Trump Republicans or independents who supported Biden in large numbers? Or are they more like Trump’s stereotypical base in the US (non-college educated whites motivated by cultural issues like immigration, identity politics, and political correctness)?

  • Simon ToadSimon Toad Shipmate
    edited November 2020
    My wife's cousins down in Tassie are reportedly Trump fanatics. I have that from their parents. They are working class people who live in Launceston, in economically challenged northern Tasmania. I am not sure of what their kids do in terms of work. I don't know them. Their parents are traditional Labor supporters with traditional labor values, and my Uncle-in-Law has the very best shed I have ever seen. It is a freaking paradise in there. Big soft chairs, modest TV, bar fridge, pool table - brilliant! He is also a bird enthusiast so there is a constant tweeting from the adjacent aviary. It really is a wonderful place to have a quiet tin while watching the cricket. We should see them again in January as there is a family wedding on. If I get to meet the cousins I shall report back.

    I got the impression that his kids support far right politicians in Australia, so that Trump is right up their political alley.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Stonespring, to take from your choices, I'd say that people here were closer to being university-educated Liberal party supporters who like lower taxes and smaller government? Ie, the type of people who in the US would often be Never Trump Republicans or independents who supported Biden in large numbers rather than the stereotype Trump supporter you posit.

    As to your relation-in-law: Penrith used be an unusual combination of a suburb on the outskirts of Sydney surrounded by small farms - market gardens, some dairy and so forth. The suburb was solid working class where unemployment was never a major issue. Children would grow up expecting to have much the same sort of life. These days, much of the farmland has been turned into suburbs of a suburb, quite a bit of unemployment and a pretty grim future for many leaving school. I can understand that many would turn to their image of Trumpism.
  • stonespringstonespring Shipmate
    edited November 2020
    Gee D wrote: »
    Stonespring, to take from your choices, I'd say that people here were closer to being university-educated Liberal party supporters who like lower taxes and smaller government? Ie, the type of people who in the US would often be Never Trump Republicans or independents who supported Biden in large numbers rather than the stereotype Trump supporter you posit.

    As to your relation-in-law: Penrith used be an unusual combination of a suburb on the outskirts of Sydney surrounded by small farms - market gardens, some dairy and so forth. The suburb was solid working class where unemployment was never a major issue. Children would grow up expecting to have much the same sort of life. These days, much of the farmland has been turned into suburbs of a suburb, quite a bit of unemployment and a pretty grim future for many leaving school. I can understand that many would turn to their image of Trumpism.

    My relative lives in a very nice house in a relatively new development and goes to a private school whose tuition is not cheap. But the area where he lives, like much of Western Sydney, has a certain anti-elitist spirit to it, and a bit of an inferiority complex from being looked down upon by residents of the Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, and North Shore (this is my speaking possibly very inaccurately as an American armchair anthropologist). There are lots of immigrants all over the area, many of whom vote Labor but many of whom are socially conservative so would have voted against the same-sex marriage referendum. I would imagine a good number of the more well-off immigrants might vote Liberal, though, but that's just more wild speculation from me.

    My relative's parents earn a good living but come from lower-middle and working class roots. I've heard them criticize Gillard and Turnbull but compliment Abbott (while disagreeing with Abbott on same-sex marriage).

    My husband and his siblings grew up in Western Sydney when it was as you describe, pre-suburban sprawl. Their father probably supported Labor back then but probably supports the Liberals now (although he thinks Albanese is not bad). But their father really, really dislikes Trump.

  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Penrith is one of the Western suburbs - perhaps you mean the Inner West?
  • Simon Toad wrote: »
    My wife's cousins down in Tassie are reportedly Trump fanatics. I have that from their parents. They are working class people who live in Launceston, in economically challenged northern Tasmania. I am not sure of what their kids do in terms of work. I don't know them. Their parents are traditional Labor supporters with traditional labor values, and my Uncle-in-Law has the very best shed I have ever seen. It is a freaking paradise in there. Big soft chairs, modest TV, bar fridge, pool table - brilliant! He is also a bird enthusiast so there is a constant tweeting from the adjacent aviary. It really is a wonderful place to have a quiet tin while watching the cricket. We should see them again in January as there is a family wedding on. If I get to meet the cousins I shall report back.

    I got the impression that his kids support far right politicians in Australia, so that Trump is right up their political alley.

    Do Pauline Hanson and her ilk associate themselves with Trump, whether or not they have ever met him?

    My Aussie in-laws make distasteful jokes about Tasmanians being inbred, like some Americans make similar jokes about Appalchians and Southerners in general. I've never been to Tasmania but I've heard it's beautiful. Are Tasmanians very different from residents of the other states and territories? In what way?
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Tasmania is beautiful. The population is low, and much of the island remains in its wild state. Better not to repeat any of the usual jokes about the inhabitants.
  • Gee D wrote: »
    Tasmania is beautiful. The population is low, and much of the island remains in its wild state. Better not to repeat any of the usual jokes about the inhabitants.

    The American equivalent of those jokes (which of course are not true) comes not only from city/country elitism but also from a history of discrimination against the often desperately poor and undereducated descendants of Scotch-Irish immigrants to the Appalachian region. I was wondering whether or not Tasmania had a similar history - or parts of it, since @Simon Toad mentioned that northern Tasmania is known for poverty. I'm just wondering why that one state is being picked on by the others when (to a not-very informed American observer), the Australian states and territories are all so huge (except for the ACT) that all of them have very poor, rural, and isolated areas.
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    Abbot is about the closest PM we have had to Trump. I wonder if your relative is influenced by certain media personalities such as Andrew Bolt or Alan Jones or former Labor politician turned One Nation, Mark Latham.

    A lot of Tasmanians move to Melbourne to study or work, and they are not really culturally different to us. There are various state and city rivalries, but I think urban/city divides are the biggest cultural differences.
  • Mili is right. Tasmania is known for jokes about inbreeding, but I certainly hold prejudices against Australians from all other states :wink: I shan't go into them in detail, they are all combative, purile things mainly designed to start fights in pubs.

    You should absolutely make the effort to go to Tassie. It is truly beautiful. You could throw a dart at a map of the place and as long as you could get there, it would make you weep. Tassie has always been economically problematic, I'm not sure why. I hope to talk my wife into buying a little bit of land with a house on it once she decides to retire. The value for money down there is really great.

    The far right in Australia loves Trump. He ticks all their boxes. He's aggressive, sexist and racist, just like they are. One Nation pretty much ran on a pro-covid ticket in Queensland last month and got smashed. I mean they were anti-border closures and skeptical about the whole thing.
  • My question would be does he or his family consume Murdoch media? Especially Sky News? If so, I can see how he would come to admire Trump.
Sign In or Register to comment.