Australian Politicians Bereft Of Inspiration Now
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A lot of Australian politicians have a problem because Trump’s America has gone batshit crazy. Why is this a particular problem for them? Basically because they and their parties have been following the American lead for decades. Pissweak Aussie pollies have been following in the shadow of big brother for the longest time. Not having to really think for themselves or come up with anything original has attracted a certain kind of Australian to their ranks. This applies to both sides but the Libs and Nats in particular have been drinking deeply from that stars and stripes cup for many years. Australian politicians bereft of inspiration now.
Pollies Downunder Bemoaning Trump’s America Being On The Nose
Signing up to free trade agreements with the Yanks, which has seen us being one of the few nations with a trade imbalance going the wrong way, has been a popular pursuit with our political leaders. The LNP Coalition have been happy to sign away our manufacturing sector in favour of deals for our mining and agriculture exports. Remember how Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey killed off our car industry. Some experts tell me that the unionised nature of manufacturing was one big reason why the LNP were always so keen to shaft this part of Australia in free trade deals with other countries. Politics invariably sticks its snout into every aspect of the power dynamic downunder.
Aussie Politicians Can No Longer Look To America
Now, Donald Trump has ripped up our free trade agreements with America and is imposing tariffs on our exports to the US. Trump has no respect for the rule of law. Might is right is his credo. The cringing Australian politicians are scratching their heads. What to do? The LNP Coalition has been trying to make Australia more like America for decades. They tried to kill off Medicare for 33 years, calling it socialised medicine. Former PM Tony Abbott pushed to privatise higher education during his time in office. Americans go bankrupt more often through not being able to pay their medical bills than for any other reason. Students in the US owe US$1.777 trillion. Yes, trillion. The American way is to profit ruthlessly from eating their own. In Australia, we are heading in that direction via housing, where the market has priced having a home out of the reach of ordinary Aussies. Market forces are not the best way of providing the essential services like health, housing and education. America is a sick society and we do not want to follow them down that divisive and inequitable tunnel.
The Americanisation Of Australian Business
Australian business has slavishly followed the US for decades. This has resulted in us importing CEOs and our local leaders getting their MBAs from the States. The upshot of this is a growing shift in acceptable values toward investor primacy over all other stake holders in business. Customers are no longer king because mergers and acquisitions have largely removed competition. The ACCC has been a toothless tiger fronting federal governments bought off by the big end of town. In every commercial sector downunder we see duopolies and oligopolies price setting and controlling the market. Record corporate profits have accompanied a cost of living crisis. Business has made hay whilst everyday Australians have suffered economically. Capitalism and the free market have been gamed by these corporations to the detriment of consumers. Governments have been ineffective and watched this growing concentration without doing anything. They have not been in our corner but in big business’s’. Banks making huge profits on the back of mortgages on overly inflated residential property. Insurance companies making record profits despite premiums being increased massively and no government oversight here. Supermarkets with too much market share being among the most profitable globally. Multinational gas giants exporting huge amounts of LPG and not paying tax or royalties in many cases. A third of all big corporations in Australia do not pay any tax at all annually. What is going on here? On whose side are our governments?
“The public owns the gas under the ground. Royalties are the fees mining companies pay for the right to use this gas. However, most multinational exporters pay no royalties, and minimal tax. In the past four years, $149 billion worth of liquified natural gas was exported from Australia royalty-free.
The Australia Taxation Office (ATO) has called the oil and gas industry “systemic non-payers” of tax. “
The fossil fuel industry makes campaign donations to both the main political parties in Australia every year. Buying favour is a long held American way of doing things and Australia has followed suit here.
The Coming Federal Election
Australian politicians bereft of inspiration now, as Captain America has gone MAGA. Trump attacks allies and sees no difference between friends or foes. The betrayal of Ukraine with the Russians! Threatening Greenland and Canada. It pays to remember that Donald Trump is now surrounded by extremists and nutjobs. The humour may die on a lot of people’s lips soon. The trade war may well be just the beginning. All those Murdoch paid trolls on Sky News Australia are going to be barracking for a seriously dangerous regime. The unpopularity of Trump in Australia is just getting started. Some commentators are calling this federal election a choice between timid and terrible. Peter Dutton has been the most divisive opposition leader in Australia’s history. Anthony Albanese has not been our most heroic PM. Dutton and the Coalition favour the third of Australia who already own their homes outright. Dutton owns 26 homes of his own. If you have a darker shade of skin in Dutton’s downunder you would not be feeling particularly safe or welcome. The ex-cop from Queensland likes to sound off alarmist warnings about anything he thinks will worry folk. Dangerous criminal refugees, Indigenous Aussies with a voice, China, gangs, and wild kids in Alice Springs.
“Dutton has long held the reputation as a hard man in Australian politics, with warnings about dangers and threats his political stock in trade.”
Dutton shares more with Trump’s style than does Albanese. Macho men are more drawn to blowhards like Trump. Talking a tough fight is the Dutton MO too. If, however, you vote along culture war lines you may find that your economic future is none too bright. Dutton is aligned with oligarch Gina Rhinehart and the fossil fuel multinationals. If you want to see more wealth inequity in Australia, with more going to the already rich then the Coalition is your ticket. Albo may appear timid but at least he is raising wages for the poorest Aussies and making things like the Stage 3 tax cuts fairer for more of us.
The right wing want an Americanised Australia, where white men rule the roost and the wealthier get an even bigger slice of the pie at the expense of the working poor. Trump is no inspiration to the Australia that believes in a fair go, but maybe not enough of us are willing to pull together to protect that idea anymore.
“The LNP Coalition in Australia is a right wing political party, no longer in the mould of its founder Robert Menzies. Its current leader Peter Dutton continues to take the LNP further right via divisive commentary and policies. Why they call Dutton ‘Temu Trump’? Peter, like many on the right, see Donald Trump as an inspirational model for extremist anti-government behaviour. Blame the government for everything is a popular sentiment in America. The LNP encourage similar attitudes here downunder, as they seek to tap into societal grievances toward bureaucracy and red tape. Slash the civil service and reduce the government services provided to minority groups and those who support centre left political policies is a long held Coalition position in Australia.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©MidasWord
