Why They Call Dutton ‘Temu Trump’?
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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.
‘Temu Trump’ The LNP Federal Leader
Why they call Dutton ‘Temu Trump’? The Temu part of the equation involves Peter Dutton being the cheap or lite version of the Trump dictator. Plus, Temu suggests ‘made in China’, which drives much of the Australian economy in real terms. The LNP may like to regularly slag off the Chinese, as an evil communist state but many of its mining magnate friends are not averse to doing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of business each and every year with China. Trade, it seems, is no indicator of true feelings, when it comes to the beating heart of conservatives.
Dutton ‘Temu Trump’ To Slash Government Services
Gough Whitlam introduced universal healthcare insurance to Australians in the 1970s and ever since the Liberals have fought to destroy it. The trouble is that Australians love their Medicare – what a bunch of socialists we are! Peter Dutton is the latest in a long line of LNP leaders who seeks to make Australia more like the USA. Privatise everything is the Republican Trump way. Right now in the US, Elon Musk and Trump are wildly slashing government services – doing away with thousands of jobs and defunding whole agencies. The regulators and watchdogs have been the first to go – funny that. One could be forgiven for thinking that transparency is not a friend to the Trump administration. Temu Trump, here in Oz, is suggesting a similar savage cutting of the public service. Of course, this was done under Abbott and Morrison. The upshot of which is tens of billions having to be spent on private firms doing the work – the PwC’s and KPMG’s. This does not save money, but rather diverts it to private interests. Jobs for the boys and macro corruption, where billion dollar tenders are allocated by ministers.
Privatisation does not automatically confer economic efficiencies; this is right wing spin. Neoliberalism fosters an environment of opaque transparency where corruption can thrive largely unseen.
The Rich Must Pay More Tax
Taxation pays for the government services that we all appreciate. Medicare, education, national security, and safe streets to walk upon. The right wing calls for lower taxes for the rich are an attack on the kind of Australia we want. In America, right now, inequality has become so bad that life expectancy for Americans is falling. Healthcare in the US is so unfair and inequitable that more people go bankrupt through unpaid medical bills than for any other single cause. Prior to the introduction of Medicare this was the case in Australia.
The Liberals fought against Medicare for 33 years in a bid to eradicate it.
“The situation in Australia before Medicare was similar to America today — medical expenses could push families into poverty.
“Hospital and medical expenses were one of the largest reasons for personal and non-business-related bankruptcy before Medicare,” Mr Gillespie said.
“After Medicare they actually removed it from the published list of reasons because it fell so low.” “
Know your history folks if you want to understand the political forces at work here. Did you know that 78% of all doctors in America are employed by a corporation? Think about that, as the level of corporatisation means reduced independence and money concerns driving the show to the detriment of patients. Australia is going the same way via neoliberalism and big companies taking over the health sector.
“Across the lifespan, and across every demographic group, Americans die at younger ages than their counterparts in other wealthy nations.”
America On TV & The Young
A lot of younger folk watch a lot of American entertainment on screens – the Hollywood effect, I call it. Very little of this product captures the reality of what life is like for many Americans. TV fare is sensationalised and washed with celebrity to make it more appealing. I remember being a kid and wishing that boring old Australia could be more like the dynamic America I saw on TV. As I got older, however, and learned more about the real America I soon became grateful that we weren’t. The influence of digital life displayed on screens has dramatically increased in recent years via Big Tech taking over the world as we know it. Young people staring into their phones is more common than anything else these days. Donald Trump comes across as exciting, especially to those not paying a lot of attention to politics. He makes outrageous statements and seems to shake things up.
Trump’s compulsive lying is harder to pick up unless you are paying closer heed to what is actually going on.
Right Wing Misinformation
‘Temu Trump’ aka Peter Dutton took inspiration from ‘The Donald’ during the Voice referendum when he spread misinformation and employed divisive tactics to defeat Indigenous hope for empowerment on the Australian stage. The ex-cop from Queensland has form when it comes to the state’s treatment of Aboriginals. Generations of white Australians have grown up with very negative beliefs and attitudes around Indigenous Aussies. Many today, still cross the street and look at dark skinned folk with suspicion. Abraham Lincoln was all about economic opportunity for all Americans. The first Republican President strove to ensure that ordinary poor folk got their chance. America has, in many ways, been a constant battle between the rich and powerful against the working poor. Those on the side of the wealthy reckon they deserve to run the country because they earned that right through their business acumen. This kind of thinking occurs in Australia as well. The fact that they then seek to reduce what taxes they pay and ensure that their capital can be passed to their progeny largely untouched by inheritance taxes feathers their own nest and not the nation. It produces a 2 speed economy, where workers pay the most tax via income tax and wealth taxes are whittled down to nothing. This is happening in Australia too, especially under the guise of Coalition federal governments. If wealth redistribution is not actively happening through the taxation system then the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Think about billionaires selling iron ore to the Chinese and the world. If their companies and trusts are not adequately taxed those hundreds of billions from selling our resources go to them and we the people miss out. Peter Dutton regularly meets with Gina Rhinehart and her ilk as they back the LNP because of arrangements that benefit them. The Coalition is the party of oligarchs and corporations. Trump and Musk in the US are showing the world just how ruthless these massively wealthy people can be in their treatment of the poor. You may want to identify yourself with perceived winners like Trump and Musk but ultimately you are not doing yourself any economic favours.
Government is for the majority of people and we need more of it not less. Don’t buy their crooked lies about government wastage – it is a cover for seeding corruption on a grand scale.
Why they call Dutton ‘Temu Trump’? Because he and his party long to remake Australia in the US mould. White supremacy, bro machismo culture, demonising minorities, downward envy, and users pay for absolutely everything. Big business runs the show globally with oligarchies taking over whole sectors. Big Tech sucks the life and your money out of everything. There is a subscription for every part of living in the West. Governments have been fighting back a bit against the digital corporations and they need to be encouraged. More privatisation is heading in the completely wrong direction. Corporate totalitarianism is what is actually happening – surveillance capitalism modifying human behaviours. This anti-government BS is a smokescreen for rampant grift. Trump is a crook at heart. Don’t let ‘Temu Trump’ get a hold of Australia!
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©MidasWord
