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Trump

Simplistic, trite and flag waving rubbish, as per usual, from the Aussie media. Anthony Albanese meets with Donald Trump in Washington and cheering from the little people angle erupts downunder. Australian media headlines hail rare minerals deal with Trump. In all likelihood, this will be another deal with American multinationals who won’t pay tax and will screw us on the royalty arrangements. Few jobs will come out of it in this highly mechanised mining sector in the 21C. It may increase our GDP numbers but this will mean diddly squat in actual terms to the vast percentage of our population. Wealthy investors might pop a few bottles of French Champagne over it.Continue Reading

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NACC Commissioner Brereton Must Go

Australians waited way too long for a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). The fact that it is failing in its intended reason for being is a disgrace. NACC Commissioner Brereton must go, as it is no longer tenable for him to stay in the job following his compromised performance. Robodebt hangs over the NACC like the shameful episode in Australian government history it is. Never have the Australian people been so betrayed by a federal government and its administrative bodies. It is topical too because this automated f*** up bears the hallmarks of AI – the much heralded artificial intelligence.Continue Reading

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man waving flag

The fact that private property has been damaged and graffiti daubed on walls in a couple of Australian cities means these are law and order issues. Australia does not have an antisemitism problem on this basis. Talk about political manipulation and overreach. We have police forces capable of adequately dealing with these relative few instances of criminal damage. Most Australians know that there is a protest movement engaged in drawing attention to the genocide being committed by Israeli forces in Gaza, where more than 50, 000 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF. Passions are high among the Australian Arab population and younger Aussies more generally – this is understandable in light of what is going on.Continue Reading

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the politics of energy in Australia

What you have to understand about the current energy debate happening are the politics of energy in Australia. Renewables offer a largely free energy source from the sun and wind with battery storage to cover when the sun goes down overnight. We are in the midst of this transition with renewables powering around 40% of Australia’s electricity supply. This is growing as we speak.

“Key statistics from the Clean Energy Australia 2024 report:Continue Reading

close up of solar panels on a roof of a house

Professor Martin Green and his team from UNSW developed Passive Emitter & Rear Cell (PERC) technology, which graces the billions of solar panels transforming the energy grids around the world. Australian science paved the way for the solar revolution. A solar revolution has been happening globally and it is only going to get even bigger. Despite this Peter Dutton has nothing good to say about solar power in Australia. New Corp, who owns much of the media in this country, likewise, rarely, if ever, has anything positive or even balanced to say about solar and renewable energy in Australia. This strikes me as unAustralian. I wonder why the LNP Coalition and Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and networks are in lockstep over deriding free energy from the sun? Could it be ideological? Indeed, could it, also, be about propping up the fossil fuel sector, and all those multinationals? Those campaign donors and mates in the neoliberal boys club, which likes to think it runs Australia?Continue Reading

assorted color wall paint house photo

Of course, negative gearing needs to have limits imposed upon it, as does the capital gains tax offset. It has only been political expediency, which has maintained these inequitable economic policies for so long in Australia. Yes, there will be howls of protest coming from those benefitting directly and indirectly from these policies. The real estate sector will be up in arms and crying that the sky will fall down upon us all if these changes are made. The aspirational voter (those who see property investment as their pathway to riches) will be dead set against any changes to either negative gearing or the capital gains tax offset.Continue Reading

The Albanese Prime Ministership So Far

Anthony Albanese was an unlikely choice for Australia to elect as PM. During his campaign in 2022 gaffes were front and centre. The press pack descended upon these like hungry wolves in search of blood. If Scott Morrison had not been outed as such a compulsive liar and his Coalition government not soiled in Robodebt and Brittany Higgins’ merde, well, you know the story. Albo waltzed into office on a fresh bouquet of wattle bringing with him the hopes of Aussie progressives. Nearly 10 years of LNP incompetence and corruption had left us short of breath for an optimistic future. The Albanese Prime Ministership so far, however, is losing its shine, it seems.Continue Reading