Thanks Gamma Gamaliel but I beg to disagree. It seemed to me that your impression of Ozpolitix has been skewed by your all-too-brief sojourn in this scattered sunburnt land. Adelaide is hardly representative of yer Ozzie metropolis and your esteemed rellies and their mates of a similar vintage are becoming rarer and more on the margins. The vast majority of British arrivals in Oz ( including former colleagues and patients who are not all White British) came here as escapees from Thatcherism, the Tories and Brexit.
The so-called “lurch to the right” in Oz is exaggerated. The dog-whistlers such as the unspeakable Pauline Hansen have obtained about 5% of the popular vote and like so many one-note wonders make no effective contribution to social or economic policy development.
The erstwhile Coalition has imploded under the weight of division and squabbling. The last Coalition PM was the most incompetent since Billy McMahon ( government thrown out after 23 years in December 1972. The nadir of his reign was the Robodebt scandal ( an illegitimate and wicked attempt to claw back legitimate social security benefits from a vulnerable group of people). The Coalition government was thrown out in May 2022 and although it gained some ground in the last Federal election the resulting infighting and fracture of the Coalition means that they will collectively remain in opposition for a long time.
Albanese has been largely effective but is weak. He has caved in to pressure from various vocal lobby groups and his latest gaffe was to invite the President of the State of Israel for a visit 2 months after the murder of 14 Jews and 1 Gentile at Bondi Beach.
The vast majority of Australians do not support Israel’s ongoing compaign of destruction in Gaza and are justifiably offended by this visit.
Are we really heading for war? I suspect not in the near future.
As for the proposed sell-off of Defence establishments: I say go for it. I worked for 14 years as a civilian contractor initially at Victoria Barracks in Sydney and came to the conclusion that it is an expensive white elephant which serves little purpose. The East coast submarine base was flogged off 30+ years ago without any comment and HMAS Penguin on the other side of the harbour is a hive of inactivity since the naval hospital closed down.
I don’t hear any talk of the major bases in the West or in Darwin coming under threat of closure.
Defence is infamous for wasting public money hand over fist. I finally quit (among other reasons) over the ineffective stupidity and cowardice of some of my uniformed masters and their civilian accomplices. I will say no more about that.
I’d like to see Penny Wong as PM. Unfortunately not a hope since she is female, lesbian and of Asian descent.
So that’s my 2 bob’s worth. Make of it what you will.
I did throw down the gauntlet and I really appreciate your response You strike me as an interesting person!
You say the swing to the right is exaggerated, put current polling is showing One Nation at something like 27%, not 5%.
Why do you think that is?
Personally I don't think Pauline Hansen has the X factor to be PM but they may get more seats at the next election if things keep going the way they are.
When you say you don't think we'll be going to war anytime soon do you mean you think China is bluffing on a Taiwan invasion or the US is bluffing on defending if it happens?
Good inside info on defence sell-offs. Thank you.
I think Penny Wong could have the x-factor for PM. I don't think the majority of people really care about policies. I think they just want a PM they can think - yeah - they could be our rep.
I think the coalition is in shambles because they don't have the X factor person leading, and their policies weren't hugely different from Labour except for nuclear power. But things are changing as we speak. Could be an interesting next election.
Hot button topics like climate change, immigration, energy supply, tax could change things.
But you know what worries me the most? Our national debt spiralling.
It's happening everywhere. There is an underlying issue going on there.
I'm sure there will be Aussies here who would be more than happy to debate these things with you and I'm sure they will do so in due course.
That they may not have done so far won't be out of fear of 'cancellation' though.
It takes a while to figure out how the Ship operates and it's sometimes best to sit tight and listen before diving in. I say that to myself.
As far as Australian politics goes, my observation is that there isn't much going on over there that is substantially different to what we are seeing over here, essentially a backlash against the liberal left and a lurch to the right in a populist kind of way.
Those on the left are saying the 'Overton Window' has shifted to the right. Those on the right are saying it's shifted to the left.
It all depends on where you stand.
But the right in western liberal democracies has only recently gained traction, as we can see from so many countries in Europe going right.
Historically, that is saying something. What I find interesting is what it is saying. It's more than just an opinion from where you stand because there has been a significant shift.
It's saying that malign actors have a (mostly financial, but in some cases ideological) interest in wrecking western liberal democracy and have realised how cheap and effective media manipulation is in the internet age. Sure, they partly amplify existing trends, but in terms of objective impact and cost very few people would, for example, give a shit about asylum seekers coming to the UK. People only even notice because of the constant wail of a far right media and their allied (probably not directly but who knows) army of influencers and bots. In a lot of ways I suspect they learned lessons from the tactics used by Salafists online to encourage extremism among Muslims, but amplified by the remorseless march of social media algorithms.
Rupert Murdoch has been promoting right wing ideas with little regard for accuracy or balance since the eighties; but I think his efforts took a step up when he started Fox News.
When I was younger the idea that there was no objective truth and everyone was biased was associated with some of the more excitable parts of the left. Fox News was the first major right wing outlet to explicitly run with the idea that facts that the right wing don't like are just as biased as the ideas they do; and therefore what have later been dubbed "alternative facts" are fine.
I'll add in climate change denial think-tanks, and Russian troll farms. I would guess that Russian troll farms do post stuff in support of the authoritarian left such as George Galloway; but the known instances are in support of right-wing causes, such as Brexit and Trump. Russia likes anything that reduces international solidarity among liberal democracies, which the far right does.
I'm not convinced that a move to the right is a 'recent' thing in Australia or anywhere else.
Heck, the UK and US had very right-wing governments under both Thatcher and Reagan.
Australia has had fairly right-wing governments within living memory too.
What I think is new and more recent is the level of populism involved. The left isn't immune to that tendency though either.
Australian Shipmates will forgive me for mentioning this and I don't mean to cause offence, but one of the things that struck me during my visit was the amount of public art and memorials commemorating this, that or the other - something not unique to Australia of course.
I saw several very effusive public monuments and art installations celebrating the achievements and contribution of Vietnamese boat-people for instance.
But it's not that long ago that I remember hawkish Aussie voices calling for those boats to be intercepted, sunk or turned back and their occupants marooned or detained on inhospitable islands.
Yes, paradox abounds.
A rather right-wing Australian PM brought in strict gun-ownership legislation for instance.
It seems that Albanese gets stick whatever he does. My relatives were blaming him for the Bondi Beach massacre because he'd allowed anti-Israel protestors to march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The truly dreadful Adelaide daily paper was full of condemnatory editorials and letters which held him responsible, something some of the grief-stricken relatives of the victims said of course.
It didn't matter how many times I pointed out that the killers were jihadists and not radicalised pro-Palestinian protestors and that a Muslim had tried to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, it was all Albanese's fault.
Anyone would have thought he'd pulled the triggers himself.
Now he's coming in for some stick for arranging an Israeli visit and for the violence that broke out between police and protestors.
I'm not convinced that a move to the right is a 'recent' thing in Australia or anywhere else.
Heck, the UK and US had very right-wing governments under both Thatcher and Reagan.
Australia has had fairly right-wing governments within living memory too.
What I think is new and more recent is the level of populism involved. The left isn't immune to that tendency though either.
Australian Shipmates will forgive me for mentioning this and I don't mean to cause offence, but one of the things that struck me during my visit was the amount of public art and memorials commemorating this, that or the other - something not unique to Australia of course.
I saw several very effusive public monuments and art installations celebrating the achievements and contribution of Vietnamese boat-people for instance.
But it's not that long ago that I remember hawkish Aussie voices calling for those boats to be intercepted, sunk or turned back and their occupants marooned or detained on inhospitable islands.
Yes, paradox abounds.
A rather right-wing Australian PM brought in strict gun-ownership legislation for instance.
Arguably not strict enough, but ...
I think even he realised that another mass shooting would have sunk the Coalition ship.
I have to smile when I recall the same right wing PM giving the nod for public funding of the human papillomavirus vaccine 20-odd years ago- after his wife required a hysterectomy for cervical cancer.
Comments
I did throw down the gauntlet and I really appreciate your response
You say the swing to the right is exaggerated, put current polling is showing One Nation at something like 27%, not 5%.
Why do you think that is?
Personally I don't think Pauline Hansen has the X factor to be PM but they may get more seats at the next election if things keep going the way they are.
When you say you don't think we'll be going to war anytime soon do you mean you think China is bluffing on a Taiwan invasion or the US is bluffing on defending if it happens?
Good inside info on defence sell-offs. Thank you.
I think Penny Wong could have the x-factor for PM. I don't think the majority of people really care about policies. I think they just want a PM they can think - yeah - they could be our rep.
I think the coalition is in shambles because they don't have the X factor person leading, and their policies weren't hugely different from Labour except for nuclear power. But things are changing as we speak. Could be an interesting next election.
Hot button topics like climate change, immigration, energy supply, tax could change things.
But you know what worries me the most? Our national debt spiralling.
It's happening everywhere. There is an underlying issue going on there.
It's saying that malign actors have a (mostly financial, but in some cases ideological) interest in wrecking western liberal democracy and have realised how cheap and effective media manipulation is in the internet age. Sure, they partly amplify existing trends, but in terms of objective impact and cost very few people would, for example, give a shit about asylum seekers coming to the UK. People only even notice because of the constant wail of a far right media and their allied (probably not directly but who knows) army of influencers and bots. In a lot of ways I suspect they learned lessons from the tactics used by Salafists online to encourage extremism among Muslims, but amplified by the remorseless march of social media algorithms.
When I was younger the idea that there was no objective truth and everyone was biased was associated with some of the more excitable parts of the left. Fox News was the first major right wing outlet to explicitly run with the idea that facts that the right wing don't like are just as biased as the ideas they do; and therefore what have later been dubbed "alternative facts" are fine.
I'll add in climate change denial think-tanks, and Russian troll farms. I would guess that Russian troll farms do post stuff in support of the authoritarian left such as George Galloway; but the known instances are in support of right-wing causes, such as Brexit and Trump. Russia likes anything that reduces international solidarity among liberal democracies, which the far right does.
Heck, the UK and US had very right-wing governments under both Thatcher and Reagan.
Australia has had fairly right-wing governments within living memory too.
What I think is new and more recent is the level of populism involved. The left isn't immune to that tendency though either.
Australian Shipmates will forgive me for mentioning this and I don't mean to cause offence, but one of the things that struck me during my visit was the amount of public art and memorials commemorating this, that or the other - something not unique to Australia of course.
I saw several very effusive public monuments and art installations celebrating the achievements and contribution of Vietnamese boat-people for instance.
But it's not that long ago that I remember hawkish Aussie voices calling for those boats to be intercepted, sunk or turned back and their occupants marooned or detained on inhospitable islands.
Yes, paradox abounds.
A rather right-wing Australian PM brought in strict gun-ownership legislation for instance.
Arguably not strict enough, but ...
The truly dreadful Adelaide daily paper was full of condemnatory editorials and letters which held him responsible, something some of the grief-stricken relatives of the victims said of course.
It didn't matter how many times I pointed out that the killers were jihadists and not radicalised pro-Palestinian protestors and that a Muslim had tried to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, it was all Albanese's fault.
Anyone would have thought he'd pulled the triggers himself.
Now he's coming in for some stick for arranging an Israeli visit and for the violence that broke out between police and protestors.
The bloke can't win whatever he does.
I wouldn't swap places with him for all the tea in China.
I doubt whether he loses any sleep over the criticisms and sniping. You need a thick hide to be a pollie.
I think even he realised that another mass shooting would have sunk the Coalition ship.
I have to smile when I recall the same right wing PM giving the nod for public funding of the human papillomavirus vaccine 20-odd years ago- after his wife required a hysterectomy for cervical cancer.
That’s on the public record, by the way.