Australian Financial Review has published a Redbridge/Accent federal poll.
ALP 56 – LNP 44, in the two party preferred.
Continues to show ONP being the major conservative force in the primaries
ALP 34
LNP 19
ONP 26
Green 11
Other 10
dv said:
Australian Financial Review has published a Redbridge/Accent federal poll.
ALP 56 – LNP 44, in the two party preferred.
Continues to show ONP being the major conservative force in the primaries
ALP 34
LNP 19
ONP 26
Green 11
Other 10
They will have to split the Libs and Nats now. Well, until they reconcile…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/palmer-denies-bannon-claim-of-election-campaign-influence/106293074
In messages with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Steve Bannon, who was once Mr Trump’s chief strategist, claimed to have directed Mr Palmer on his costly political advertising spend“I had Clive Palmer do the $60 million anti china and climate change ads,” Bannon wrote in the text chain.
dv said:
In messages with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Steve Bannon, who was once Mr Trump’s chief strategist, claimed to have directed Mr Palmer on his costly political advertising spend“I had Clive Palmer do the $60 million anti china and climate change ads,” Bannon wrote in the text chain.
wait so to everyone’s great surprise in all this CHINA is just the punching bag for rich and powerful Americans and their sycophants to knock on when they want to distract from their paedophile practices oh wow did someone say foreign interference already
oh no that’s right when it’s the good guys doing it it’s influence ah yes
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.
—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
https://antonygreen.com.au/one-nations-poll-surge-the-first-25-seats-to-watch/
According to Mr Green, the lion’s share of seats that ONP might hope to pick up are currently held by the Nationals.
dv said:
https://antonygreen.com.au/one-nations-poll-surge-the-first-25-seats-to-watch/According to Mr Green, the lion’s share of seats that ONP might hope to pick up are currently held by the Nationals.
Stands to reason.
roughbarked said:
dv said:
https://antonygreen.com.au/one-nations-poll-surge-the-first-25-seats-to-watch/According to Mr Green, the lion’s share of seats that ONP might hope to pick up are currently held by the Nationals.
Stands to reason.
who genius was it said it’s Two Nationa Party again
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
Someone has removed the escapement from the clock and the hands are spinning rapidly.
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
Perhaps because in this decaying world they are irrelevant.
Lets maintain the status quo and all it entails (unviable industry and practices) because we are selfish and short sighted.
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
Perhaps because in this decaying world they are irrelevant.
Lets maintain the status quo and all it entails (unviable industry and practices) because we are selfish and short sighted.
revolution is the only way
The subservience of these people is embarrassing.
dv said:
The subservience of these people is embarrassing.
plus his english isn’t the best.
ChrispenEvan said:
dv said:
The subservience of these people is embarrassing.
plus his english isn’t the best.
He was the only one there.
Tau.Neutrino said:
ChrispenEvan said:
dv said:
The subservience of these people is embarrassing.
plus his english isn’t the best.
He was the only one there.
Does David Attenborough narrate it
“Now we see the Melania in her natural habitat being approached by a very old orangutan who defecates and throw it at her as courtship ritual”
Cymek said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
ChrispenEvan said:plus his english isn’t the best.
He was the only one there.
Does David Attenborough narrate it
“Now we see the Melania in her natural habitat being approached by a very old orangutan who defecates and throw it at her as courtship ritual”
Now, THAT film i’d buy a ticket for!
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
Perhaps because in this decaying world they are irrelevant.
Lets maintain the status quo and all it entails (unviable industry and practices) because we are selfish and short sighted.
Tau.Neutrino said:
ChrispenEvan said:
dv said:
The subservience of these people is embarrassing.
plus his english isn’t the best.
He was the only one there.
exactly they should have said unjust seed
so Kevin 007 is in the paedo files but as an enemy
no worries, we’d be happy to be seen as opposed to their scams and csam
dv said:
The subservience of these people is embarrassing.
Some brown tongues there.
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
Clocks usually ‘tick”.
Woodie said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
National Party spill is underway.
Most of the talkin’ heads believe Boyce does not have the numbers.
Unlike other parties, the Nats tend to keep completely quiet about the count, so we’ll just find out who won without knowing how close it was, probably.—-
Liberals have poured cold water on the idea that there is an imminent spill coming.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/liberals-dismiss-prospect-of-imminent-leadership-challenge/106292412
From that, i think the we can assume that the clock is running.
Clocks usually ‘tick”.
fruit flies like a banana
SCIENCE said:
mmm yum
sorry stuffed that up here fixed
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
mmm yum
sorry stuffed that up here fixed
That looks disgusting.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
mmm yum
sorry stuffed that up here fixed
“In 2020, he was convicted of a serious drug offence and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years. “
For that kind of time he must have been a heavy traficker
dv said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
mmm yum
sorry stuffed that up here fixed
“In 2020, he was convicted of a serious drug offence and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years. “
For that kind of time he must have been a heavy traficker
Hamid says he would rather go back to prison than stay in immi detention, as at least in prison you are given tasks.
He should probably have committed a graver offence then.
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
Divine Angel said:
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
In high school we were allowed to take our ties off
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
Hydrogenated or hydrophobic?
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
Hydrogenated or hydrophobic?
hydroponic
dv said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
Hydrogenated or hydrophobic?
hydroponic
Will he grow leaves?
Divine Angel said:
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Ian said:
Divine Angel said:
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
captain_spalding said:
Ian said:
Divine Angel said:remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Ian said:Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
Our school at least had the sense to put the milk crates (steel wire things, weren’t they?) in a shady spot.
captain_spalding said:
Ian said:
Divine Angel said:remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
Spent a lot of days, months years and decades bent over in the sun on such hot days doing graft and corruption.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
Our school at least had the sense to put the milk crates (steel wire things, weren’t they?) in a shady spot.
The milko put them in the shade but the shade moved after he left..
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
Our school at least had the sense to put the milk crates (steel wire things, weren’t they?) in a shady spot.
Yep, and we turned out alright.
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
Our school at least had the sense to put the milk crates (steel wire things, weren’t they?) in a shady spot.
Yep, and we turned out alright.
Country wouldn’t have survived if we hadn’t.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Ian said:Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
Yes. Awful. I hated that.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Ian said:Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
Spent a lot of days, months years and decades bent over in the sun on such hot days doing graft and corruption.
One of the contributors here lives near there.
Neophyte said:
Divine Angel said:
dv said:
42 deg C for the first day of school so I hope they boy is staying hydro
remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
In high school we were allowed to take our ties off
I remember that one. We never even had it rumoured that you might be sent home on a hot day.
buffy said:
Neophyte said:
Divine Angel said:remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
In high school we were allowed to take our ties off
I remember that one. We never even had it rumoured that you might be sent home on a hot day.
We never got sent home for temperature, but sports got cancelled
captain_spalding said:
Ian said:
Divine Angel said:remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
Sent home?
Looxury!
In one primary school class, on hot sommer day, in old wooden “demountable” I sat inside north facing window in the sun!
Sent home.. pfft
Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
Sometimes the classes were taken outside to sit under trees. I vaguely recall that in primary school (1960s Melbourne). Not sure I can remember that happening in high school.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:Yep. Been there, done that. Can still clearly recall a good few days over 100 deg F, in just that sort of building, in 1966.
The school milk delivery sat in the sun until playlunch. Undrinkable by then.
Our school at least had the sense to put the milk crates (steel wire things, weren’t they?) in a shady spot.
I reckon ours were taken inside to the corridor outside the principal’s office.
Cymek said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
ChrispenEvan said:plus his english isn’t the best.
He was the only one there.
Does David Attenborough narrate it
“Now we see the Melania in her natural habitat being approached by a very old orangutan who defecates and throw it at her as courtship ritual”
Diaperman is so perfumed.
Do kids still get free milk?
Peak Warming Man said:
Do kids still get free milk?
buffy said:
Neophyte said:
Divine Angel said:remember the good old days where rumour had it that if it tipped over 35 degrees, students would be sent home?
In high school we were allowed to take our ties off
I remember that one. We never even had it rumoured that you might be sent home on a hot day.
I recall being in the billiard room of the Imperial Services Club in Sydney one evening, when one of the staff came in and announced that, in view of the extraordinary warmth of the evening, the Duty Committee Member had decided that we might remove our suit jackets.
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:
Neophyte said:In high school we were allowed to take our ties off
I remember that one. We never even had it rumoured that you might be sent home on a hot day.
I recall being in the billiard room of the Imperial Services Club in Sydney one evening, when one of the staff came in and announced that, in view of the extraordinary warmth of the evening, the Duty Committee Member had decided that we might remove our suit jackets.
That’s the sort of thing that sensible chaps do.
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Do kids still get free milk?
Ta.
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:I remember that one. We never even had it rumoured that you might be sent home on a hot day.
I recall being in the billiard room of the Imperial Services Club in Sydney one evening, when one of the staff came in and announced that, in view of the extraordinary warmth of the evening, the Duty Committee Member had decided that we might remove our suit jackets.
That’s the sort of thing that sensible chaps do.
We were quite cognizant of the privilege that had been extended to us.
Peak Warming Man said:
Do kids still get free milk?
No
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Do kids still get free milk?
People seem to forget that one of the main reasions for school milk wasn’t necessarily the excuse thta kids needed better nutrition. It was because the dairy farmers were doing it tough.
So Cory Bernardi is now joiining One Nation.
more surprises
hey this is pretty awesome shit
SCIENCE said:
hey this is pretty awesome shit
Tell him to go get a job with ICE.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:hey this is pretty awesome shit
Tell him to go get a job with ICE.
Her. an Italian migrant.
ChrispenEvan said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:hey this is pretty awesome shit
Tell him to go get a job with ICE.
Her. an Italian migrant.
and she thinks she’s a westerner?
roughbarked said:
ChrispenEvan said:
roughbarked said:Tell him to go get a job with ICE.
Her. an Italian migrant.
and she thinks she’s a westerner?
roughbarked said:
So Cory Bernardi is now joiining One Nation.
Can people stop joining one nation.
Tau.Neutrino said:
roughbarked said:
So Cory Bernardi is now joiining One Nation.
Can people stop joining one nation.
Maybe they are not people.
Spot the racist.
SCIENCE said:
hey this is pretty awesome shit
Fucking stupid racist Italian bitch who should fuck off back to where she came from.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Spot the racist.
I didn’t know PH was in Starfleet.
Rumours Dan Andrews has had a stroke. ABC doesn’t seem to be reporting it yet, I saw a headline on Murdoch news so here’s a grain of salt 🧂
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-22/abs-jobs-unemployment-december-2025-figures/106256288
Unemployment rate drops to 4.1%
Divine Angel said:
Rumours Dan Andrews has had a stroke. ABC doesn’t seem to be reporting it yet, I saw a headline on Murdoch news so here’s a grain of salt 🧂
apparently these rumours started 6 weeks ago though
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
Rumours Dan Andrews has had a stroke. ABC doesn’t seem to be reporting it yet, I saw a headline on Murdoch news so here’s a grain of salt 🧂
apparently these rumours started 6 weeks ago though
Slow rumour mill…
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:Divine Angel said:
Rumours Dan Andrews has had a stroke. ABC doesn’t seem to be reporting it yet, I saw a headline on Murdoch news so here’s a grain of salt 🧂
apparently these rumours started 6 weeks ago though
Slow rumour mill…
Yeah. I missed the memo and the news site is rehashing old rumours. I was skimming headlines while eating breakfast.
Cory Berfuckingnardi is back. He is topping the ticket in the upper house for One Nation, in the upcoming SA election.
The new cash rate is 3.85 per cent, up from 3.6 per cent.
Dinosaur Footprint Found in Brisbane Belonged to John Howard, Palaeontologists Confirm
A footprint discovered in Brisbane this week is believed to be that of John Howard, created during his formative years in student politics 230 million years ago.
“This is when Howard would have been forming his view of the world and testing out his ideas. It’s a fascinating and historically significant discovery,” Palaeontologist Jim Burtongi said
He said the footprint shows no evidence of lateral movement, suggesting the creature responsible stood firmly in one place for an extended period while the world evolved around it.
“We found an etching nearby that read ‘everything was better before the meteor’. That’s when we thought it might belong to Howard,” Burtongi said.
Nearby sediment revealed other fossilised artefacts consistent with Howard, including what is believed to be an early version of the WorkChoices pamphlet etched onto stone, as well as a speech warning that granting rights to other species would ‘undermine traditional values’.
Historians say the discovery helps contextualise Howard’s later discomfort with modern Australia.
“If you accept that he formed his worldview before flowering plants, it explains a lot,” political historian Dr Tim Nguyen said.
https://theshovel.com.au/2026/02/03/dinosaur-footprint-in-brisbane-belonged-to-john-howard/
The trouble with political jokes is that they get elected.
captain_spalding said:
purity
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
purity
Pure arseholes.
btm said:
The trouble with political jokes is that they get elected.
There are better alternatives¡
SCIENCE said:
btm said:
The trouble with political jokes is that they get elected.
There are better alternatives¡
Mostly not putting themselves forward.
why did they delete this article though
FWIW.
so the greens were in on it damn
This is both Aus and US politics.
The Trump administration and agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) militia currently terrorising US cities will be quietly given direct access to Australians’ biometric information and ID documents by the Albanese government, in response to a US demand for tighter security for all countries with Visa Waiver Program arrangements.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/03/australian-biometric-id-data-access-donald-trump-ice/
Now, some biometric data is being collected by Coles supermarkets
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-09/coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir/103443504
And the company partnering with Coles, Palantir, to collect data is owned by Peter Thiel, who has donated to Trunp’s 2016 campaign, and to others associated with Trump, such as JD Vance.
https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/billionaires-and-the-trump-admin-peter-thiel/
Just sayin’.
Divine Angel said:
This is both Aus and US politics.
The Trump administration and agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) militia currently terrorising US cities will be quietly given direct access to Australians’ biometric information and ID documents by the Albanese government, in response to a US demand for tighter security for all countries with Visa Waiver Program arrangements.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/03/australian-biometric-id-data-access-donald-trump-ice/
Now, some biometric data is being collected by Coles supermarkets
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-09/coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir/103443504
And the company partnering with Coles, Palantir, to collect data is owned by Peter Thiel, who has donated to Trunp’s 2016 campaign, and to others associated with Trump, such as JD Vance.
https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/billionaires-and-the-trump-admin-peter-thiel/
Just sayin’.
well can we fucking opt out because we’re quite happy to never ever in our fucking lifetimes go to that fascist shithole
anyway we repeat our point about cozying up to fascists and say nothing more pending further dialogue
Divine Angel said:
This is both Aus and US politics.The Trump administration and agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) militia currently terrorising US cities will be quietly given direct access to Australians’ biometric information and ID documents by the Albanese government, in response to a US demand for tighter security for all countries with Visa Waiver Program arrangements.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/03/australian-biometric-id-data-access-donald-trump-ice/
Now, some biometric data is being collected by Coles supermarkets
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-09/coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir/103443504
And the company partnering with Coles, Palantir, to collect data is owned by Peter Thiel, who has donated to Trunp’s 2016 campaign, and to others associated with Trump, such as JD Vance.
https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/billionaires-and-the-trump-admin-peter-thiel/
Just sayin’.
Never had any desire to visit the US.
That attitude is not altered.
I’d love to see a show on Broadway and visit a theme park or two and try authentic Chicago-style pizza and stalk Matt Damon’s LA residence, but none of those things are terribly important.
Divine Angel said:
This is both Aus and US politics.The Trump administration and agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) militia currently terrorising US cities will be quietly given direct access to Australians’ biometric information and ID documents by the Albanese government, in response to a US demand for tighter security for all countries with Visa Waiver Program arrangements.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/03/australian-biometric-id-data-access-donald-trump-ice/
Now, some biometric data is being collected by Coles supermarkets
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-09/coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir/103443504
And the company partnering with Coles, Palantir, to collect data is owned by Peter Thiel, who has donated to Trunp’s 2016 campaign, and to others associated with Trump, such as JD Vance.
https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/billionaires-and-the-trump-admin-peter-thiel/
Just sayin’.
Pharque!
Paranoia feeds…
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
This is both Aus and US politics.
The Trump administration and agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) militia currently terrorising US cities will be quietly given direct access to Australians’ biometric information and ID documents by the Albanese government, in response to a US demand for tighter security for all countries with Visa Waiver Program arrangements.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/03/australian-biometric-id-data-access-donald-trump-ice/
Now, some biometric data is being collected by Coles supermarkets
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-09/coles-just-hired-us-defence-contractor-palantir/103443504
And the company partnering with Coles, Palantir, to collect data is owned by Peter Thiel, who has donated to Trunp’s 2016 campaign, and to others associated with Trump, such as JD Vance.
https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/billionaires-and-the-trump-admin-peter-thiel/
Just sayin’.
well can we fucking opt out because we’re quite happy to never ever in our fucking lifetimes go to that fascist shithole
anyway we repeat our point about cozying up to fascists and say nothing more pending further dialogue
When I worked in the US the welcome lady fascist came around and gave me a gift and welcomed me into the community and all the fascists were very friendly.
It should be noted that the exchange of biometric data idea was from the Biden administration, back in 2022.
I’m glad I went to the US to study the San Andreas Fault and associated strike-slip basins, and the overall sedimentology of tectonically active areas when I did.
Hopefully they will return to some form of sensible normality some time soon.
fknel it’s almost as if nobody’s read Hannah Arendt oh no if they’re fascists they have to be orcs
Michael V said:
I’m glad I went to the US to study the San Andreas Fault and associated strike-slip basins, and the overall sedimentology of tectonically active areas when I did.Hopefully they will return to some form of sensible normality some time soon.
Yes they have sone very interesting geology over there.
SCIENCE said:
fknel it’s almost as if nobody’s read Hannah Arendt oh no if they’re fascists they have to be orcs
Well, I haven’t even seen a copy.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:fknel it’s almost as if nobody’s read Hannah Arendt oh no if they’re fascists they have to be orcs
Well, I haven’t even seen a copy.
I can e-mail you a copy.
.pdf, .mobi, .epub, azw3, .rar, .fb2, your choice.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:fknel it’s almost as if nobody’s read Hannah Arendt oh no if they’re fascists they have to be orcs
Well, I haven’t even seen a copy.
I can e-mail you a copy.
.pdf, .mobi, .epub, azw3, .rar, .fb2, your choice.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
I’m glad I went to the US to study the San Andreas Fault and associated strike-slip basins, and the overall sedimentology of tectonically active areas when I did.Hopefully they will return to some form of sensible normality some time soon.
Yes they have sone very interesting geology over there.
We have some very interesting geology here. Similar stuff, similar scale: Peel Fault and Manning Group.
The real difference for me was that the Californian tectonic system is very active, so the exposure is excellent in many places. The exposure in the Ridge Basin from the Violin Breccia through to basinal mudstones approaches 100% in a creek cross-section of the basin. It’s amazing. I had thought that their geologists were so much more brilliant than me, but it’s the exposure that counts. The Violin Breccia is the unit that originally demonstrated strike-slip displacement along the San Gabriel Fault. It nailed the whole concept down. The source rocks were 40 km away, but the breccia was in situ – it had not been transported in a water-borne system. JC (John) Crowell was the first to properly solve the anomaly, and used the analogy of a coal-loader where the train is filled truck-by-truck as it goes by.
Our systems are much less active (note: not completely inactive), so the exposure is poor, and much more difficult to interpret.
FWIW
Newly released documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case contain multiple references to former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who denies ever meeting or having direct contact with the convicted sex offender. The 3.5 million documents also include damning photographs of Prince Andrew and allegations involving Microsoft founder Bill Gates, with US Democrats continuing to pursue unredacted files and testimony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wl1YCnYx-E
Apologies if it’s a repost.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
I’m glad I went to the US to study the San Andreas Fault and associated strike-slip basins, and the overall sedimentology of tectonically active areas when I did.Hopefully they will return to some form of sensible normality some time soon.
Yes they have sone very interesting geology over there.
We have some very interesting geology here. Similar stuff, similar scale: Peel Fault and Manning Group.
The real difference for me was that the Californian tectonic system is very active, so the exposure is excellent in many places. The exposure in the Ridge Basin from the Violin Breccia through to basinal mudstones approaches 100% in a creek cross-section of the basin. It’s amazing. I had thought that their geologists were so much more brilliant than me, but it’s the exposure that counts. The Violin Breccia is the unit that originally demonstrated strike-slip displacement along the San Gabriel Fault. It nailed the whole concept down. The source rocks were 40 km away, but the breccia was in situ – it had not been transported in a water-borne system. JC (John) Crowell was the first to properly solve the anomaly, and used the analogy of a coal-loader where the train is filled truck-by-truck as it goes by.
Our systems are much less active (note: not completely inactive), so the exposure is poor, and much more difficult to interpret.
Yes. There is a lot of geological history etched in our landscape.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:Well, I haven’t even seen a copy.
I can e-mail you a copy.
.pdf, .mobi, .epub, azw3, .rar, .fb2, your choice.
.pdf is fine. I can probably open the formats I’ve never heard of and know I can open .rar but .pdf’s are no probs.
Do i have an e-mail address for you?
so 3 hops at 20000 per hop is about 60000, ridiculous but also standard, are we to make something big of this cost, is it a slow news day
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-04/foi-docs-show-details-of-anika-wells-new-york-trip/106305526
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
I can e-mail you a copy.
.pdf, .mobi, .epub, azw3, .rar, .fb2, your choice.
.pdf is fine. I can probably open the formats I’ve never heard of and know I can open .rar but .pdf’s are no probs.Do i have an e-mail address for you?
All we meant was that evil is banal…
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
.pdf is fine. I can probably open the formats I’ve never heard of and know I can open .rar but .pdf’s are no probs.
Do i have an e-mail address for you?
All we meant was that evil is banal…
All that Hannah meant was to not think that evil people are different from you.
They’re exactly like you. And like me.
Then they’re persuaded (rarely ordered, almost always persuaded) that it’s ok to do things they wouldn’t have previously considered.
And exactly the same could happen to you and me.
Most of the psephology heads are not onto it yet but Dr Kev Bonham has started including polling averages for One Nation v Labor on his website.
Looks as though ON has made up a bit of ground there.
Antony Green has also analysed the easiest seats for One Nation to pick up
https://antonygreen.com.au/one-nations-poll-surge-the-first-25-seats-to-watch/
dv said:
Most of the psephology heads are not onto it yet but Dr Kev Bonham has started including polling averages for One Nation v Labor on his website.
Looks as though ON has made up a bit of ground there.
Antony Green has also analysed the easiest seats for One Nation to pick up
https://antonygreen.com.au/one-nations-poll-surge-the-first-25-seats-to-watch/
I blame Peter Dutton.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:I can e-mail you a copy.
.pdf, .mobi, .epub, azw3, .rar, .fb2, your choice.
.pdf is fine. I can probably open the formats I’ve never heard of and know I can open .rar but .pdf’s are no probs.Do i have an e-mail address for you?
You did recently send me an aircaft history book. ;)
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:I can e-mail you a copy.
.pdf, .mobi, .epub, azw3, .rar, .fb2, your choice.
.pdf is fine. I can probably open the formats I’ve never heard of and know I can open .rar but .pdf’s are no probs.Do i have an e-mail address for you?
Yes you did send me the history of aircrafit development.
I did reply and sent another mail just now.
oh no are these the same teenagers who said that restricting online social manipulation media would be the end of their world
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/social-media-ban-do-under-16s-think-it-is-working/106304064
oh that’s right
Adyan agrees with Anabell’s estimate.
“Probably around 10 per cent of them actually have been banned, and half of that 10 per cent has been unbanned by just using basically the same thing that I did: use other people’s faces, use their driver’s licence.
“Now, really, none of my friends are banned. Everyone has social media.”
yeah it’s both over restrictive and not working at all, yeah
Snapchat said it fundamentally disagreed with the social media ban, arguing that cutting teens off from connecting with close friends and family does not “make them safer, happier, or otherwise better off”.
ah yes that’s right, if it’s not connection using Snapchat then it’s not connection, it’s cutoff
Hey ChatGPT what are preventative measures¿
“We are surprised by the decision and do not agree with the grounds or the process that led to it. LCS has always cooperated with all regulatory inspections and requests for information,” Mr L’Hotellier said.
“There is no evidence of any incident involving physical harm or injury to a child. The issues raised relate to administrative compliance matters.”
good, good
The government estimates it could generate nearly $2 billion, which would be redirected back into the ADF. “This is an important step to take because right now we are spending a lot of money on properties that we fundamentally don’t use,” Marles says on Channel Seven. “We simply cannot continue to spend money securing property that we don’t use, and this has been put in the too-hard basket for a very long time,” he says.
now tell us about spending a fuck load of money on sunk assets that you fundamentally don’t have
SCIENCE said:
oh no are these the same teenagers who said that restricting online social manipulation media would be the end of their world
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/social-media-ban-do-under-16s-think-it-is-working/106304064
oh that’s right
Adyan agrees with Anabell’s estimate.
“Probably around 10 per cent of them actually have been banned, and half of that 10 per cent has been unbanned by just using basically the same thing that I did: use other people’s faces, use their driver’s licence.
“Now, really, none of my friends are banned. Everyone has social media.”
yeah it’s both over restrictive and not working at all, yeah
Snapchat said it fundamentally disagreed with the social media ban, arguing that cutting teens off from connecting with close friends and family does not “make them safer, happier, or otherwise better off”.
ah yes that’s right, if it’s not connection using Snapchat then it’s not connection, it’s cutoff
The nastiness on social media isn’t astonishing its kind of expected
At times I’ll see if I can stir up the racists and other nasty people.
why have guts when you can appease
The foreign minister says the government is working through whether to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. New Zealand says it will not be joining the Board of Peace, which has been set up oversee the ceasefire in Gaza. Penny Wong says the Australian government is seeking more information about what the US intends to do with the Board of Peace. “Obviously, one of the issues that we are interested in is the peace plan for Gaza,” Wong tells ABC Radio National Breakfast. “It is so important after what we have seen over the last two years that we work towards peace and the objective that we’ve been really clear about, which is a peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis and two states.”
SCIENCE said:
why have guts when you can appease
The foreign minister says the government is working through whether to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. New Zealand says it will not be joining the Board of Peace, which has been set up oversee the ceasefire in Gaza. Penny Wong says the Australian government is seeking more information about what the US intends to do with the Board of Peace. “Obviously, one of the issues that we are interested in is the peace plan for Gaza,” Wong tells ABC Radio National Breakfast. “It is so important after what we have seen over the last two years that we work towards peace and the objective that we’ve been really clear about, which is a peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis and two states.”
The name itself comes across as those fascist bullshit names they give to organisations that are the opposite of what they say.
Ministry of (re) education for example or the Board of USA dominated peace while killing Muslims
SCIENCE said:
oh no are these the same teenagers who said that restricting online social manipulation media would be the end of their world
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/social-media-ban-do-under-16s-think-it-is-working/106304064
oh that’s right
Adyan agrees with Anabell’s estimate.
“Probably around 10 per cent of them actually have been banned, and half of that 10 per cent has been unbanned by just using basically the same thing that I did: use other people’s faces, use their driver’s licence.
“Now, really, none of my friends are banned. Everyone has social media.”
yeah it’s both over restrictive and not working at all, yeah
Snapchat said it fundamentally disagreed with the social media ban, arguing that cutting teens off from connecting with close friends and family does not “make them safer, happier, or otherwise better off”.
ah yes that’s right, if it’s not connection using Snapchat then it’s not connection, it’s cutoff
There was some discussion about this on Reddit, r/australia. Some comments:
“I have teenagers, and if they say it’s not working, it actually is working and giving them the shits.”
“We won’t see results for a few years as younger kids now won’t be able to start social media until they’re adults.”
“Social media will be full of bots.”
“It’s nice to have a break from hateful comments.”
“Kids are just using their parents’ accounts.”
“You can still watch YouTube if you’re not logged in.” and similarly, “he just logs in as ‘guest’ so we can’t track what he watches now.”
“It’s working, my local parks and skate parks have never been busier.” (Also note a increase in footage of teens on e-scooters wreaking havoc in parks etc.)
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:oh no are these the same teenagers who said that restricting online social manipulation media would be the end of their world
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/social-media-ban-do-under-16s-think-it-is-working/106304064
oh that’s right
Adyan agrees with Anabell’s estimate.
“Probably around 10 per cent of them actually have been banned, and half of that 10 per cent has been unbanned by just using basically the same thing that I did: use other people’s faces, use their driver’s licence.
“Now, really, none of my friends are banned. Everyone has social media.”
yeah it’s both over restrictive and not working at all, yeah
Snapchat said it fundamentally disagreed with the social media ban, arguing that cutting teens off from connecting with close friends and family does not “make them safer, happier, or otherwise better off”.
ah yes that’s right, if it’s not connection using Snapchat then it’s not connection, it’s cutoff
There was some discussion about this on Reddit, r/australia. Some comments:
“I have teenagers, and if they say it’s not working, it actually is working and giving them the shits.”
“We won’t see results for a few years as younger kids now won’t be able to start social media until they’re adults.”
“Social media will be full of bots.”
“It’s nice to have a break from hateful comments.”
“Kids are just using their parents’ accounts.”
“You can still watch YouTube if you’re not logged in.” and similarly, “he just logs in as ‘guest’ so we can’t track what he watches now.”
“It’s working, my local parks and skate parks have never been busier.” (Also note a increase in footage of teens on e-scooters wreaking havoc in parks etc.)
look even if all it does is stop adult paedophiles from posing as juveniles to groom actual juveniles then that’s probably a good thing
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:oh no are these the same teenagers who said that restricting online social manipulation media would be the end of their world
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/social-media-ban-do-under-16s-think-it-is-working/106304064
oh that’s right
Adyan agrees with Anabell’s estimate.
“Probably around 10 per cent of them actually have been banned, and half of that 10 per cent has been unbanned by just using basically the same thing that I did: use other people’s faces, use their driver’s licence.
“Now, really, none of my friends are banned. Everyone has social media.”
yeah it’s both over restrictive and not working at all, yeah
Snapchat said it fundamentally disagreed with the social media ban, arguing that cutting teens off from connecting with close friends and family does not “make them safer, happier, or otherwise better off”.
ah yes that’s right, if it’s not connection using Snapchat then it’s not connection, it’s cutoff
There was some discussion about this on Reddit, r/australia. Some comments:
“I have teenagers, and if they say it’s not working, it actually is working and giving them the shits.”
“We won’t see results for a few years as younger kids now won’t be able to start social media until they’re adults.”
“Social media will be full of bots.”
“It’s nice to have a break from hateful comments.”
“Kids are just using their parents’ accounts.”
“You can still watch YouTube if you’re not logged in.” and similarly, “he just logs in as ‘guest’ so we can’t track what he watches now.”
“It’s working, my local parks and skate parks have never been busier.” (Also note a increase in footage of teens on e-scooters wreaking havoc in parks etc.)look even if all it does is stop adult paedophiles from posing as juveniles to groom actual juveniles then that’s probably a good thing
Yes
Digital platforms whilst allowing it to be easier to do it also means its easier to catch them.
From what I read through work the police pose as children and consistently tell the adult I’m underage to give them chances to leave.
When they don’t they get charged
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:There was some discussion about this on Reddit, r/australia. Some comments:
“I have teenagers, and if they say it’s not working, it actually is working and giving them the shits.”
“We won’t see results for a few years as younger kids now won’t be able to start social media until they’re adults.”
“Social media will be full of bots.”
“It’s nice to have a break from hateful comments.”
“Kids are just using their parents’ accounts.”
“You can still watch YouTube if you’re not logged in.” and similarly, “he just logs in as ‘guest’ so we can’t track what he watches now.”
“It’s working, my local parks and skate parks have never been busier.” (Also note a increase in footage of teens on e-scooters wreaking havoc in parks etc.)look even if all it does is stop adult paedophiles from posing as juveniles to groom actual juveniles then that’s probably a good thing
Yes
Digital platforms whilst allowing it to be easier to do it also means its easier to catch them.
From what I read through work the police pose as children and consistently tell the adult I’m underage to give them chances to leave.
When they don’t they get charged
well they can still say “the platform didn’t ban me” and catch those dudes
NSW govt defines social media as
“Social media refers to social media sites, applications, tools and platforms that provide users with online infrastructure and resources to connect and communicate and exchange content or information online” so by that definition, leaving comments on a news article could be social media.
Divine Angel said:
NSW govt defines social media as
“Social media refers to social media sites, applications, tools and platforms that provide users with online infrastructure and resources to connect and communicate and exchange content or information online” so by that definition, leaving comments on a news article could be social media.
I’ve always assume social media for teenagers is mostly a modernised version of popularity
The popular kids win and the less popular or different ones lose or get bullied.
Its nothing new except its reach and distribution.
A lot nastier as AI allows also sorts of fake photos to be created.
As an adult you just tell bullies to f off, like I do and don’t care about consequences
I occasionally get myself in trouble but meh
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:NSW govt defines social media as
“Social media refers to social media sites, applications, tools and platforms that provide users with online infrastructure and resources to connect and communicate and exchange content or information online” so by that definition, leaving comments on a news article could be social media.
I’ve always assume social media for teenagers is mostly a modernised version of popularity
The popular kids win and the less popular or different ones lose or get bullied.
Its nothing new except its reach and distribution.
A lot nastier as AI allows also sorts of fake photos to be created.
As an adult you just tell bullies to f off, like I do and don’t care about consequences
I occasionally get myself in trouble but meh
Once upon a time there was a facebook group called “Stefani Germanotta will never be famous”. It was created and used by her classmates at high school.
Now we know Sefani Germanotta as Lady Gaga. I’d say she’s doing pretty well for herself.
Divine Angel said:
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:NSW govt defines social media as
“Social media refers to social media sites, applications, tools and platforms that provide users with online infrastructure and resources to connect and communicate and exchange content or information online” so by that definition, leaving comments on a news article could be social media.
I’ve always assume social media for teenagers is mostly a modernised version of popularity
The popular kids win and the less popular or different ones lose or get bullied.
Its nothing new except its reach and distribution.
A lot nastier as AI allows also sorts of fake photos to be created.
As an adult you just tell bullies to f off, like I do and don’t care about consequences
I occasionally get myself in trouble but meh
Once upon a time there was a facebook group called “Stefani Germanotta will never be famous”. It was created and used by her classmates at high school.
Now we know Sefani Germanotta as Lady Gaga. I’d say she’s doing pretty well for herself.
oh back when Stefani G was just a girl
well they didn’t target the right people
The attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally crowd in Perth was a terrorist act, authorities have declared.
or it would have taken even longer
SCIENCE said:
well they didn’t target the right people
The attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally crowd in Perth was a terrorist act, authorities have declared.
or it would have taken even longer
gotta love them lightly trodden baby steps
“All of us in this room, all of us in our community, would have seen a bomb being thrown into a crowd on Australia Day at an Invasion Day rally as an act of terror,” he said. “But to charge someone with a terrorism offence, we need to prove the motivation and the ideology of that person.”
where there are other instances of language being used in common terms and in legal terms with not quite identical definitions, is there the same hesitancy to call out bad behaviour
¿has…
has the fine gaping distinction between common and legal definitions of things stopped our bold and gutsy politicians from speaking out about their pet peeves in the past?
Nope. I doubt I’ll follow live.
What are these Christian values that seem to be missing for these people?
Western society would seem to have been based upon Christian values, yet these people seem to gabe different ideas.
roughbarked said:
Nope. I doubt I’ll follow live.
Depends on where they’re “going”. Dustbin of history? Sure, they won’t need an escort.
roughbarked said:
What are these Christian values that seem to be missing for these people?
Western society would seem to have been based upon Christian values, yet these people seem to gabe different ideas.
gabe? Have.
Bubblecar said:
roughbarked said:
Nope. I doubt I’ll follow live.
Depends on where they’re “going”. Dustbin of history? Sure, they won’t need an escort.
Heh. Too right.
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
The Rev Dodgson said:
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
What about the nether-region coverings and the accommodation?
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
What about the nether-region coverings and the accommodation?
“he wears safety-yellow trousers
and he lives in a tent because there’s no such thing as affordable social housing because it was all knocked down by MPs who are landlords over extensive property portfolios and the land was sold to developers to build bijou executive apartments.”
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
What about the nether-region coverings and the accommodation?
“he wears safety-yellow trousers
and he lives in a tent because there’s no such thing as affordable social housing because it was all knocked down by MPs who are landlords over extensive property portfolios and the land was sold to developers to build bijou executive apartments.”
Well done Cap’n S.
I was thinking of something along similar lines, but that’s much better than my effort.
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
What about the nether-region coverings and the accommodation?
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
What about the nether-region coverings and the accommodation?
“he wears safety-yellow trousers
and he lives in a tent because there’s no such thing as affordable social housing because it was all knocked down by MPs who are landlords over extensive property portfolios and the land was sold to developers to build bijou executive apartments.”
LOL
:)
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:For some reason I have been singing a variant of that song to myself on my dog walks:
My old man’s a refuse disposal officer, he wears a refuse disposal officer’s personal protective equipment.
What about the nether-region coverings and the accommodation?
“he wears safety-yellow trousers
and he lives in a tent because there’s no such thing as affordable social housing because it was all knocked down by MPs who are landlords over extensive property portfolios and the land was sold to developers to build bijou executive apartments.”
Hmm, catchy.
Dropbear just posted this. Seems like a shit decision to me, a non-expert and non-boating person.
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
Anyway, we’ve explored the dustman song.
DA pointed out that Mr Mutant is now a garbage bin, and he wears a garbage bin lid.
This seems odd. Perhaps somebody could explain the notion.
Divine Angel said:
Dropbear just posted this. Seems like a shit decision to me, a non-expert and non-boating person.
Kurnell.
‘ken Crisafulli.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
Anyway, we’ve explored the dustman song.
DA pointed out that Mr Mutant is now a garbage bin, and he wears a garbage bin lid.
This seems odd. Perhaps somebody could explain the notion.
So Rocky the Robovac returns to dock every 15 minutes and says, “emptying dustbin”. Cue song.
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
My old man’s a dustbin, he wears a dustbin’s hat.
Anyway, we’ve explored the dustman song.
DA pointed out that Mr Mutant is now a garbage bin, and he wears a garbage bin lid.
This seems odd. Perhaps somebody could explain the notion.
So Rocky the Robovac returns to dock every 15 minutes and says, “emptying dustbin”. Cue song.
Oh. I was hoping for a better story than that. About how Mr Mutant had mutated into a green garbo.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:Anyway, we’ve explored the dustman song.
DA pointed out that Mr Mutant is now a garbage bin, and he wears a garbage bin lid.
This seems odd. Perhaps somebody could explain the notion.
So Rocky the Robovac returns to dock every 15 minutes and says, “emptying dustbin”. Cue song.
Oh. I was hoping for a better story than that. About how Mr Mutant had mutated into a green garbo.
Mutant by name only, I’m afraid.
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:So Rocky the Robovac returns to dock every 15 minutes and says, “emptying dustbin”. Cue song.
Oh. I was hoping for a better story than that. About how Mr Mutant had mutated into a green garbo.
Mutant by name only, I’m afraid.
I didn’t want the truth. Because I can’t handle the truth!
Noting all the stuff going on about the Bondi shooting and comparing it with how the fizzer of a particle bomb went down as a non-event until there was a push from the first nations people to actually have the same right to be recognised as the victims of hate.
This is Australia.
roughbarked said:
Noting all the stuff going on about the Bondi shooting and comparing it with how the fizzer of a particle bomb went down as a non-event until there was a push from the first nations people to actually have the same right to be recognised as the victims of hate.
This is Australia.
so if all the primitives had converted to the most persecuted religion in the world then they would have enjoyed the best protection from the start
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Noting all the stuff going on about the Bondi shooting and comparing it with how the fizzer of a particle bomb went down as a non-event until there was a push from the first nations people to actually have the same right to be recognised as the victims of hate.
This is Australia.
so if all the primitives had converted to the most persecuted religion in the world then they would have enjoyed the best protection from the start
True though it is, it doesn’t make it not mind numbingly stupid.
Opponents of the Albanese government have jumped on the rate hike as evidence of the government’s poor economic management. They are blaming the government’s high levels of spending for inflation picking up pace.
> Though in disarray, they are still claiming to be the better money managers.
roughbarked said:
Opponents of the Albanese government have jumped on the rate hike as evidence of the government’s poor economic management. They are blaming the government’s high levels of spending for inflation picking up pace.> Though in disarray, they are still claiming to be the better money managers.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
well they didn’t target the right people
The attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally crowd in Perth was a terrorist act, authorities have declared.
or it would have taken even longer
gotta love them lightly trodden baby steps
“All of us in this room, all of us in our community, would have seen a bomb being thrown into a crowd on Australia Day at an Invasion Day rally as an act of terror,” he said. “But to charge someone with a terrorism offence, we need to prove the motivation and the ideology of that person.”
where there are other instances of language being used in common terms and in legal terms with not quite identical definitions, is there the same hesitancy to call out bad behaviour
¿has…
has the
finegaping distinction between common and legal definitions of things stopped our bold and gutsy politicians from speaking out about their pet peeves in the past?
Noting all the stuff going on about the Bondi shooting and comparing it with how the fizzer of a particle bomb went down as a non-event until there was a push from the first nations people to actually have the same right to be recognised as the victims of hate.
This is Australia.
so if all the primitives had converted to the most persecuted religion in the world then they would have enjoyed the best protection from the start
True though it is, it doesn’t make it not mind numbingly stupid.
yes, ^, we suspect, +1, we agree, this, with you
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
Opponents of the Albanese government have jumped on the rate hike as evidence of the government’s poor economic management. They are blaming the government’s high levels of spending for inflation picking up pace.> Though in disarray, they are still claiming to be the better money managers.
Gosh.
I can’t see how, but all that says is that I really don’t grasp economics.
I don’t know the validity of the claim but just imagine having to pressure the state leader to make flu vaccines free.
Divine Angel said:
I don’t know the validity of the claim but just imagine having to pressure the state leader to make flu vaccines free.
They are normally free for most people aren’t they ?
Not sure as we get if free through work
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
I don’t know the validity of the claim but just imagine having to pressure the state leader to make flu vaccines free.
They are normally free for most people aren’t they ?
Not sure as we get if free through work
Unless you have a complete dickwad for a premier, yes.
https://www.threads.com/@writtenbymeaghan/post/DUZKlSvEjAs?xmt=AQF0hxUVQiXDvYyHvxukE6dSNnDBBbxPXaVw2iAT_F4UNoo_XVIOqWHB44HHyEPaOjWwjkdM&slof=1
Albanese decries sexist headlines about Ley
dv said:
Albanese decries sexist headlines about Ley
but is he correct, would such article never been written about a male politician
probably just a dirty variant of the dorothy dixer
anyway wow look at this bunch of sycophantic propaganda
The government has largely delivered on its 2025 election agenda with environmental law reform and student debt relief among many others.
The Liberal and National party leaders are expected to announce a reunification deal today.
The Coalition split after three National senators broke away from shadow cabinet and voted against the government’s hate groups bill, and were then fired from the front bench.
What’s next?
The anticipated compromise would allow the fired senators to return to the front bench after a short suspension.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/deal-almost-done-to-bring-coalition-back-together/102760848
Divine Angel said:
The Liberal and National party leaders are expected to announce a reunification deal today.
The Coalition split after three National senators broke away from shadow cabinet and voted against the government’s hate groups bill, and were then fired from the front bench.
What’s next?
The anticipated compromise would allow the fired senators to return to the front bench after a short suspension.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/deal-almost-done-to-bring-coalition-back-together/102760848
They think they’re so brave and grown up, being all independent of each other for a few short weeks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/deal-almost-done-to-bring-coalition-back-together/102760848
The Bennifer of conservative politics
dv said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/deal-almost-done-to-bring-coalition-back-together/102760848
The Bennifer of conservative politics
Honestly, i have not been following all this fol-de-rol.
How did it end up? Did the tail wag the dog again, or did the dog overrule the tail for once?
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/deal-almost-done-to-bring-coalition-back-together/102760848
The Bennifer of conservative politics
Honestly, i have not been following all this fol-de-rol.
How did it end up? Did the tail wag the dog again, or did the dog overrule the tail for once?
This is more a Catdog situation
dv said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-08/deal-almost-done-to-bring-coalition-back-together/102760848
The Bennifer of conservative politics
Honestly, i have not been following all this fol-de-rol.
How did it end up? Did the tail wag the dog again, or did the dog overrule the tail for once?
This is more a Catdog situation
Jane Hume has walked straight out of the Sky News studio and into the corridor where she has unloaded even further on her own party and the Nationals.
She says she is “not agitating” for a leadership bill, despite her closeness to Angus Taylor, whom she backed in the last spill.
“But at some point, we have to speak up and say something’s got to give,” she adds.
The threat of “non-existence” at the next election “cannot be blamed on anyone else” than Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, she says.
“It has to come back to the leadership we are facing today… They have to reflect on themselves.”
“At this point we’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election if this continues, so something’s got to give.”
From the abc live thread. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/federal-politics-ley-littleproud-albanese-coalition-estimates/106314548
well then yous should
Twenty-year-old Ben Walker has worked at a Woolworths supermarket in Sale, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, for the past four years. “I have a car, I pay board at home, I’ve got a motorbike as well. I’m paying adult fuel with still a child’s wage,” he said.
have gone electric shouldn’t yous
oh yes is this right
“If there are substantial changes, that makes it incredibly difficult for employers to hire young people,” he said. “Young people won’t be hired for jobs, and that will be to the detriment of them … the workforce and the economy as a whole.”
so do the jobs just disappear if the young people aren’t cheap slaves
roughbarked said:
Jane Hume has walked straight out of the Sky News studio and into the corridor where she has unloaded even further on her own party and the Nationals.She says she is “not agitating” for a leadership bill, despite her closeness to Angus Taylor, whom she backed in the last spill.
“But at some point, we have to speak up and say something’s got to give,” she adds.
The threat of “non-existence” at the next election “cannot be blamed on anyone else” than Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, she says.
“It has to come back to the leadership we are facing today… They have to reflect on themselves.”
“At this point we’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election if this continues, so something’s got to give.”
From the abc live thread. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/federal-politics-ley-littleproud-albanese-coalition-estimates/106314548
Policies, Jane, Policies.
Remember them? If people don’t like your policies (and what you stand for) Jane, then they don’t vote for you.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Jane Hume has walked straight out of the Sky News studio and into the corridor where she has unloaded even further on her own party and the Nationals.She says she is “not agitating” for a leadership bill, despite her closeness to Angus Taylor, whom she backed in the last spill.
“But at some point, we have to speak up and say something’s got to give,” she adds.
The threat of “non-existence” at the next election “cannot be blamed on anyone else” than Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, she says.
“It has to come back to the leadership we are facing today… They have to reflect on themselves.”
“At this point we’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election if this continues, so something’s got to give.”
From the abc live thread. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/federal-politics-ley-littleproud-albanese-coalition-estimates/106314548
Policies, Jane, Policies.
Remember them? If people don’t like your policies (and what you stand for) Jane, then they don’t vote for you.
Doesn’t matter who the leader is, without policies. There is no good done by spending all the time running down the government rather than trying to form a decent one.
SCIENCE said:
well then yous should
Twenty-year-old Ben Walker has worked at a Woolworths supermarket in Sale, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, for the past four years. “I have a car, I pay board at home, I’ve got a motorbike as well. I’m paying adult fuel with still a child’s wage,” he said.
have gone electric shouldn’t yous
oh yes is this right
“If there are substantial changes, that makes it incredibly difficult for employers to hire young people,” he said. “Young people won’t be hired for jobs, and that will be to the detriment of them … the workforce and the economy as a whole.”
so do the jobs just disappear if the young people aren’t cheap slaves
Nebraska has just passed a bill lowering minimum wage for youth workers from $15 to $13.50.
Link.
SCIENCE said:
well then yous should
Twenty-year-old Ben Walker has worked at a Woolworths supermarket in Sale, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, for the past four years. “I have a car, I pay board at home, I’ve got a motorbike as well. I’m paying adult fuel with still a child’s wage,” he said.
have gone electric shouldn’t yous
oh yes is this right
“If there are substantial changes, that makes it incredibly difficult for employers to hire young people,” he said. “Young people won’t be hired for jobs, and that will be to the detriment of them … the workforce and the economy as a whole.”
so do the jobs just disappear if the young people aren’t cheap slaves
This. So if young people are going to be too expensive to hire I guess they’ll need to employ adults on adult pay rates. Hmmmm
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:well then yous should
Twenty-year-old Ben Walker has worked at a Woolworths supermarket in Sale, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, for the past four years. “I have a car, I pay board at home, I’ve got a motorbike as well. I’m paying adult fuel with still a child’s wage,” he said.
have gone electric shouldn’t yous
oh yes is this right
“If there are substantial changes, that makes it incredibly difficult for employers to hire young people,” he said. “Young people won’t be hired for jobs, and that will be to the detriment of them … the workforce and the economy as a whole.”
so do the jobs just disappear if the young people aren’t cheap slaves
Nebraska has just passed a bill lowering minimum wage for youth workers from $15 to $13.50.
Link.
US sinking further into Third World status.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Jane Hume has walked straight out of the Sky News studio and into the corridor where she has unloaded even further on her own party and the Nationals.
She says she is “not agitating” for a leadership bill, despite her closeness to Angus Taylor, whom she backed in the last spill.
“But at some point, we have to speak up and say something’s got to give,” she adds.
The threat of “non-existence” at the next election “cannot be blamed on anyone else” than Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, she says.
“It has to come back to the leadership we are facing today… They have to reflect on themselves.”
“At this point we’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election if this continues, so something’s got to give.”
From the abc live thread. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/federal-politics-ley-littleproud-albanese-coalition-estimates/106314548
Policies, Jane, Policies.
Remember them? If people don’t like your policies (and what you stand for) Jane, then they don’t vote for you.
Doesn’t matter who the leader is, without policies. There is no good done by spending all the time running down the government rather than trying to form a decent one.
makes sense, that’s how people get kkk elected, they love the fascist policies and they don’t care about the team sports and personality cults
see Australians are better than that we vote for policies not for people
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Jane Hume has walked straight out of the Sky News studio and into the corridor where she has unloaded even further on her own party and the Nationals.She says she is “not agitating” for a leadership bill, despite her closeness to Angus Taylor, whom she backed in the last spill.
“But at some point, we have to speak up and say something’s got to give,” she adds.
The threat of “non-existence” at the next election “cannot be blamed on anyone else” than Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, she says.
“It has to come back to the leadership we are facing today… They have to reflect on themselves.”
“At this point we’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election if this continues, so something’s got to give.”
From the abc live thread. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/federal-politics-ley-littleproud-albanese-coalition-estimates/106314548
Policies, Jane, Policies.
Remember them? If people don’t like your policies (and what you stand for) Jane, then they don’t vote for you.
The problem they’ve got, IMHO, is that there isn’t a set of policies they can come up with that will restore their previous position. The electorate has fractured and split into separate groups.
If you look at the Teals movement over the last couple of elections and who votes for them you start to get the picture. The Teal voters are generally affluent inner and middle urbanites with higher levels of education and professional qualifications, and are more likely to be unaffiliated with religion. These people used to vote Liberal in their droves because there was no other option, and they’d never vote ALP even as a protest vote. These voters tend to be more concerned about climate change, gender equality and corruption. The Teals have given them an option that aligns more closely with their priorities than what the Coalition put forward.
The Coalition is dead IMHO and not worth salvaging. The Liberal party needs to decide if it is going to be chasing the Teal type voter, or chasing the One Nation type voter, and go all in on that target group. I don’t think the Liberal Party can appeal to both of them anymore, without turning both of them off. Gotta be one or the other. Either a centrist Teal type of party, or a hard right party.
But none of these will give them a big enough bloc to form government on their own. They either go down the gurgler entirely, or they become a niche permanent minor party.
party_pants said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Jane Hume has walked straight out of the Sky News studio and into the corridor where she has unloaded even further on her own party and the Nationals.She says she is “not agitating” for a leadership bill, despite her closeness to Angus Taylor, whom she backed in the last spill.
“But at some point, we have to speak up and say something’s got to give,” she adds.
The threat of “non-existence” at the next election “cannot be blamed on anyone else” than Sussan Ley and David Littleproud, she says.
“It has to come back to the leadership we are facing today… They have to reflect on themselves.”
“At this point we’re talking about a leadership contest between Sussan Ley and Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor. None of them will have seats after the next election if this continues, so something’s got to give.”
From the abc live thread. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/federal-politics-ley-littleproud-albanese-coalition-estimates/106314548
Policies, Jane, Policies.
Remember them? If people don’t like your policies (and what you stand for) Jane, then they don’t vote for you.
The problem they’ve got, IMHO, is that there isn’t a set of policies they can come up with that will restore their previous position. The electorate has fractured and split into separate groups.
If you look at the Teals movement over the last couple of elections and who votes for them you start to get the picture. The Teal voters are generally affluent inner and middle urbanites with higher levels of education and professional qualifications, and are more likely to be unaffiliated with religion. These people used to vote Liberal in their droves because there was no other option, and they’d never vote ALP even as a protest vote. These voters tend to be more concerned about climate change, gender equality and corruption. The Teals have given them an option that aligns more closely with their priorities than what the Coalition put forward.
The Coalition is dead IMHO and not worth salvaging. The Liberal party needs to decide if it is going to be chasing the Teal type voter, or chasing the One Nation type voter, and go all in on that target group. I don’t think the Liberal Party can appeal to both of them anymore, without turning both of them off. Gotta be one or the other. Either a centrist Teal type of party, or a hard right party.
But none of these will give them a big enough bloc to form government on their own. They either go down the gurgler entirely, or they become a niche permanent minor party.
furious said:
party_pants said:
Michael V said:
Policies, Jane, Policies.
Remember them? If people don’t like your policies (and what you stand for) Jane, then they don’t vote for you.
The problem they’ve got, IMHO, is that there isn’t a set of policies they can come up with that will restore their previous position. The electorate has fractured and split into separate groups.
If you look at the Teals movement over the last couple of elections and who votes for them you start to get the picture. The Teal voters are generally affluent inner and middle urbanites with higher levels of education and professional qualifications, and are more likely to be unaffiliated with religion. These people used to vote Liberal in their droves because there was no other option, and they’d never vote ALP even as a protest vote. These voters tend to be more concerned about climate change, gender equality and corruption. The Teals have given them an option that aligns more closely with their priorities than what the Coalition put forward.
The Coalition is dead IMHO and not worth salvaging. The Liberal party needs to decide if it is going to be chasing the Teal type voter, or chasing the One Nation type voter, and go all in on that target group. I don’t think the Liberal Party can appeal to both of them anymore, without turning both of them off. Gotta be one or the other. Either a centrist Teal type of party, or a hard right party.
But none of these will give them a big enough bloc to form government on their own. They either go down the gurgler entirely, or they become a niche permanent minor party.
just saw this hilarious cut though
no worries
party_pants said:
But none of these will give them a big enough bloc to form government on their own. They either go down the gurgler entirely, or they become a niche permanent minor party.
These are dark times, there is no denying. Our world has, perhaps, faced no greater threat than it does today. But I say this to our citizenry: ‘we, ever your servants, will continue to defend your liberty and repel the forces that seek to take it from you! Your Ministry…remains…strong!’” – Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister for Magic.
Nation-leading penalties targeting criminals and terrorists with guns
The Crisafulli Government is delivering a clear and strong response to target criminals and terrorists with guns to make Queensland safer.
Nation-leading penalties for stealing firearms and ammunition, 3D-printed weapons, and new offences to crack down on drive-by shootings.
The legislation follows strong and decisive measures announced to combat antisemitism and crack down on terrorist-motivated chants and symbols.
The Crisafulli Government is making Queensland safer and delivering a clear and strong response to the Bondi beach terrorist attack.
The Crisafulli Government is delivering nation-leading penalties to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists, in the next steps of its reforms to make Queensland safer.
The tough laws – to be introduced to Parliament this week – deliver a suite of strengthened powers targeting terrorists and criminals, including nation-leading penalties for illegal firearms, drive-by shootings at places of worship, emerging threats such as 3D-printed weapons, and are the next step in the Crisafulli Government’s calm and methodical response to the Bondi Beach terror attack.
The Bill includes:
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/104469
Divine Angel said:
Just think, all that money could have gone to the struggling mining industry.
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
This explains it very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgspkxfkS4k
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
The Japanese are considering building their own nuclear powered submarines.
If they decide to, then they’ll come up with a good design, build it quickly and well, on time and on budget.
So, we buy some from them.
The other thing to be done is to tell the RAAF to piss off and cry themselves to sleep if they feel like it, but we’re buying F-35Bs and the Fleet Air Arm will operate them from HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide, and whatever other suitable ships come along.
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
And we will want our deposit back. Failure to fulfill a contract.
buffy said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
And we will want our deposit back. Failure to fulfill a contract.
Trump’s probably already spent it on gold shit for his ex-Qatari 747.
Spiny Norman said:
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
This explains it very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgspkxfkS4k
Hehe.
Peak Warming Man said:
Spiny Norman said:
Peak Warming Man said:Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
This explains it very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgspkxfkS4k
Hehe.
Albanese needs to get on the phone … “Macron, maaaaaate”
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
Arm Indonesians with pointy sticks.
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
Do they want their Temu stuff back?
Divine Angel said:
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
Do they want their Temu stuff back?
Weaponise the button batteries!
dv said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Spiny Norman said:This explains it very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgspkxfkS4k
Hehe.
Albanese needs to get on the phone … “Macron, maaaaaate”
Nah, the French don’t have a design ready to go. We should have bought the Japanese subs in the first place. Ring the new Japanese Thatcher Lady. We need some second hand ones at least to tide us over for a while.
Divine Angel said:
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
Good news is that Australia might be saving 400 billion dollars.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/not-delivering-any-aukus-nuclear-submarines-to-australia-explored-as-option-in-us-congressional-report
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
Do they want their Temu stuff back?
Ha!
Witty Rejoinder said:
Divine Angel said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Well how are we going to stop China from coming and taking all our stuff.
Do they want their Temu stuff back?
Weaponise the button batteries!
damn these cheap pagers
Antony Green did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) last night
https://www.reddit.com/r/australian/s/1zAU4CAMz9
Ian said:
dv said:
ChrispenEvan said:
One of Australia’s most brilliant political cartoonists, Jon Kudelka – who published more than 10,000 cartoons – has died in Hobart from a brain tumour.
sad.
One of the greats
well he lived to see it
SCIENCE said:
Ian said:
dv said:
ChrispenEvan said:
SCIENCE said:
furious said:
party_pants said:
The problem they’ve got, IMHO, is that there isn’t a set of policies they can come up with that will restore their previous position. The electorate has fractured and split into separate groups.
If you look at the Teals movement over the last couple of elections and who votes for them you start to get the picture. The Teal voters are generally affluent inner and middle urbanites with higher levels of education and professional qualifications, and are more likely to be unaffiliated with religion. These people used to vote Liberal in their droves because there was no other option, and they’d never vote ALP even as a protest vote. These voters tend to be more concerned about climate change, gender equality and corruption. The Teals have given them an option that aligns more closely with their priorities than what the Coalition put forward.
The Coalition is dead IMHO and not worth salvaging. The Liberal party needs to decide if it is going to be chasing the Teal type voter, or chasing the One Nation type voter, and go all in on that target group. I don’t think the Liberal Party can appeal to both of them anymore, without turning both of them off. Gotta be one or the other. Either a centrist Teal type of party, or a hard right party.
But none of these will give them a big enough bloc to form government on their own. They either go down the gurgler entirely, or they become a niche permanent minor party.
just saw this hilarious cut though
politician (A) blames other political party (B) for being inept at being in politics when they (B) played politics and in the process smashed their political opponents (A) into fragments
no worries
One of Australia’s most brilliant political cartoonists, Jon Kudelka – who published more than 10,000 cartoons – has died in Hobart from a brain tumour.
sad.
One of the greats
well he lived to see it
so they were going that by pushing community LABOR to do hate speech laws in a mad rush there would be a mêlée and they could come from behind but because it didn’t work it’s all LABOR’s fault
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Ian said:
well he lived to see it
so they were going that by pushing community LABOR to do hate speech laws in a mad rush there would be a mêlée and they could come from behind but because it didn’t work it’s all LABOR’s fault
We know but they haven’t got a clue.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
well he lived to see it
so they were going that by pushing community LABOR to do hate speech laws in a mad rush there would be a mêlée and they could come from behind but because it didn’t work it’s all LABOR’s fault
We know but they haven’t got a clue.
sorry
going = hoping
community = communist
but yous can read it as “going with” which still works, any other community
fk predictive autocorrect text
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
so they were going that by pushing community LABOR to do hate speech laws in a mad rush there would be a mêlée and they could come from behind but because it didn’t work it’s all LABOR’s fault
We know but they haven’t got a clue.
sorry
going = hoping
community = communistbut yous can read it as “going with” which still works, any other community
fk predictive autocorrect text
That wasn’t a problem for me.
Not picking on your dictation skills.
I was suggesting that we the voters know what’s wrong but the Coalition hasn’t got a clue.
Posters of the Bondi shooter appeared around Melbourne. The culprit has now been unmasked
Sherryn Groch
February 10, 2026 — 9:45am
A wealthy neo-Nazi associate has unmasked himself as the architect of an offensive series of posters depicting the Bondi shooter which had appeared in the middle of the night around Melbourne recently, in the latest in a series of far-right stunts exploiting Australia’s worst terror attack.
Police had been closing in on those behind the mysterious poster stunt, which had hijacked the style of an iconic Australian poster art series to include an image of Naveed Akram, one of the gunmen of the Bondi Beach terror attack, with the word “Aussie” beneath his face.
Overnight, Hugo Lennon posted a video online showing himself and another far-right influencer putting up the posters in high-vis clothing late at night.
Lennon claimed in the video that he had used “intel” from “patriots” to decide the target sites for the poster campaign, without elaborating.
His video appeared following rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on Monday protesting the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was invited to Australia by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Bondi terror attack in which 15 people were killed and dozens injured at a Hanukkah celebration.
The poster stunt was an attempt, Lennon said, to mock the well-known series by artist Peter Drew which celebrates multiculturalism and challenges xenophobic views of what an Australian is meant to look like. Other posters covertly put up by Lennon and his associates featured US President Donald Trump and Man Haron Monis, who carried out the deadly Lindt Cafe siege in 2014.
Lennon took issue with the assertion of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece that his spoof posters were not art, and claiming he and an associate had pushed Drew’s idea to its “logical limits”. He mocked the widespread condemnation the stunt had received, including from Melbourne’s Jewish community.
Drew had publicly challenged those behind the knock-off posters to come forward and Reece had called it a “sick” act of hate while families were still grieving after the Bondi massacre.
On Tuesday, Drew said: “This is what happens when white boys spend too much time online. I think they should apologise for embarrassing their parents and be grounded for two weeks (with no Xbox).
“It’s just sad. have their whole lives ahead of them, but they’re throwing it all away for online clout.”
This masthead previously revealed that Lennon, a Scotch college graduate from a wealthy property development family, and a key organiser of the anti-immigration March for Australia rallies, is also an associate of Australia’s main neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network (NSN).
The NSN was working with Lennon behind the scenes to run the March for Australia rallies, but disbanded on paper last month to escape the government’s new crackdown on extremism, though experts warn those now cut loose from the group’s orbit are more volatile than ever.
Far-right threats to kidnap Albanese, post bombs to mosques, secret chats reveal
Last month, this masthead revealed that a string of threats uncovered in a secret chatroom run by March for Australia organisers and NSN neo-Nazis, including a $10,000 plot to kidnap Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, had led to at least two police raids in the lead up to the latest Australia Day rallies.
Lennon helped run and promoted that Discord chatroom, using it to help organise the March for Australia rallies and promote his own content online, but didn’t take part in the threats or extremist views shared on it.
The chatroom has since been shut down by the gaming platform Discord for breaching rules “about violent extremism”, and most of its users suspended.
Albanese has acknowledged the threats uncovered there and called for Australians to “turn down the temperature of political debate”.
The City of Melbourne said its staff had been working around the clock to remove about 40 of the spoof posters put up by Lennon and his associates.
Victoria Police said it was still investigating after “several posters of concern” first “popped up in Richmond, the CBD and its surrounds” ahead of the March for Australia rallies in late January.
“Officers have reviewed CCTV and our inquiries are ongoing in relation to the offence of billposting,” a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Police continued to liaise with Melbourne City Council on the incidents, the spokesperson said.
Drew’s distinctive “Aussie” posters, which show Australians photographed in the early 1900s with the word “Aussie” in large type at the bottom, have been plastered on walls around the country for the past decade.
He first created the series in 2016 in response to anti-immigration sentiment and xenophobia. The best-known poster in the series features Monga Khan, an Afghan cameleer in a turban, while another features a young Jewish boy.
When questioned repeatedly by this masthead, Lennon has not denied his ties to the NSN or neo-Nazi involvement in the marches.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/posters-of-the-bondi-shooter-appeared-around-melbourne-the-culprit-has-now-been-unmasked-20260209-p5o0va.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
A wealthy neo-Nazi associate has unmasked himself as the architect of an offensive series of posters depicting the Bondi shooter which had appeared in the middle of the night around Melbourne recently, in the latest in a series of far-right stunts exploiting Australia’s worst terror attack.
Overnight, Hugo Lennon posted a video online showing himself and another far-right influencer putting up the posters in high-vis clothing late at night. Lennon claimed in the video that he had used “intel” from “patriots” to decide the target sites for the poster campaign, without elaborating. His video appeared following rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on Monday protesting the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was invited to Australia by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Bondi terror attack in which 15 people were killed and dozens injured at a Hanukkah celebration.
Lennon took issue with the assertion of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece that his spoof posters were not art, and claiming he and an associate had pushed Drew’s idea to its “logical limits”. He mocked the widespread condemnation the stunt had received, including from Melbourne’s Jewish community.
This masthead previously revealed that Lennon, a Scotch college graduate from a wealthy property development family, and a key organiser of the anti-immigration March for Australia rallies, is also an associate of Australia’s main neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network (NSN).
When questioned repeatedly by this masthead, Lennon has not denied his ties to the NSN or neo-Nazi involvement in the marches.
private school students eh
Apparently here in Australia yesterday.
Spiny Norman said:
Apparently here in Australia yesterday.
There’s also other footage of other incidents. Ay least one different one oon ABC TV.
Spiny Norman said:
Apparently here in Australia yesterday.
Not a good look.
There’ll be follow-up to that.
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
A wealthy neo-Nazi associate has unmasked himself as the architect of an offensive series of posters depicting the Bondi shooter which had appeared in the middle of the night around Melbourne recently, in the latest in a series of far-right stunts exploiting Australia’s worst terror attack.
Overnight, Hugo Lennon posted a video online showing himself and another far-right influencer putting up the posters in high-vis clothing late at night. Lennon claimed in the video that he had used “intel” from “patriots” to decide the target sites for the poster campaign, without elaborating. His video appeared following rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on Monday protesting the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was invited to Australia by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Bondi terror attack in which 15 people were killed and dozens injured at a Hanukkah celebration.
Lennon took issue with the assertion of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece that his spoof posters were not art, and claiming he and an associate had pushed Drew’s idea to its “logical limits”. He mocked the widespread condemnation the stunt had received, including from Melbourne’s Jewish community.
This masthead previously revealed that Lennon, a Scotch college graduate from a wealthy property development family, and a key organiser of the anti-immigration March for Australia rallies, is also an associate of Australia’s main neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network (NSN).
When questioned repeatedly by this masthead, Lennon has not denied his ties to the NSN or neo-Nazi involvement in the marches.
private school students eh
They excel at teaching a inflated sense of entitlement.
Reynolds successfully sued Higgins for $340000, plus a 7-digit share of legal costs, leading to the banktruptcy of Higgins and her partner. Linda Reynolds is now suing the Commonwealth, saying that they did not act in Reynolds’ best interests when they negotiated with the victim.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/commonwealth-files-defence-against-linda-reynolds-legal-action/106324034
This rape cover-up is proving to be a real money spinner. You have to wonder why people bother with proper jobs.
dv said:
Reynolds successfully sued Higgins for $340000, plus a 7-digit share of legal costs, leading to the banktruptcy of Higgins and her partner. Linda Reynolds is now suing the Commonwealth, saying that they did not act in Reynolds’ best interests when they negotiated with the victim.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/commonwealth-files-defence-against-linda-reynolds-legal-action/106324034
This rape cover-up is proving to be a real money spinner. You have to wonder why people bother with proper jobs.
!!!
dv said:
Reynolds successfully sued Higgins for $340000, plus a 7-digit share of legal costs, leading to the banktruptcy of Higgins and her partner. Linda Reynolds is now suing the Commonwealth, saying that they did not act in Reynolds’ best interests when they negotiated with the victim.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/commonwealth-files-defence-against-linda-reynolds-legal-action/106324034
This rape cover-up is proving to be a real money spinner. You have to wonder why people bother with proper jobs.
She’s not a nice person.
roughbarked said:
dv said:
Reynolds successfully sued Higgins for $340000, plus a 7-digit share of legal costs, leading to the banktruptcy of Higgins and her partner. Linda Reynolds is now suing the Commonwealth, saying that they did not act in Reynolds’ best interests when they negotiated with the victim.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/commonwealth-files-defence-against-linda-reynolds-legal-action/106324034
This rape cover-up is proving to be a real money spinner. You have to wonder why people bother with proper jobs.
She’s not a nice person.
Its disgusting isn’t it.
Don’t give a shit about another human being and then sue them when they call you out
There have been protests in Sydney about the visit of President Herzog.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on ABC Radio:
“There’s concurrent incidents. We have the visit of a head of state, and as the police commissioner, I have a responsibility to keep safe. We have a community that is still in mourning and want to see their president. “
Hmm
dv said:
There have been protests in Sydney about the visit of President Herzog.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on ABC Radio:
“There’s concurrent incidents. We have the visit of a head of state, and as the police commissioner, I have a responsibility to keep safe. We have a community that is still in mourning and want to see their president. “
Hmm
“their president”?
dv said:
There have been protests in Sydney about the visit of President Herzog.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on ABC Radio:
“There’s concurrent incidents. We have the visit of a head of state, and as the police commissioner, I have a responsibility to keep safe. We have a community that is still in mourning and want to see their president. “
Hmm
From what I’ve read, the Australian Jews in the main do not support Netenyahu’s government?
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F2Xd6HvCL/
I mean I guess at least he didn’t get shot, but these people have got to invest in a gopro or something so they can film handsfree.
FMD, Albanese is doing it as well.
Someone needs to prep these people.
dv said:
FMD, Albanese is doing it as well.
Someone needs to prep these people.
It does raise the question of ‘so, which state do they belong to?’.
And, i can just hear some Jewish acquaintances for years back asking, ‘who ever said that we’re all tzabarim (Israeli born)?’.
Quite embarrassing to be a cop in Sydney at times.
Sydney police grabbed a woman from behind, yanked her scarf, strangled her, and dragged her to the ground during protests in Sydney, Australia.
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
FMD, Albanese is doing it as well.
Someone needs to prep these people.
It does raise the question of ‘so, which state do they belong to?’.
And, i can just hear some Jewish acquaintances for years back asking, ‘who ever said that we’re all tzabarim (Israeli born)?’.
maybe all the Abrahamics can just fuck off back to Jerusalem and fight it out back home
roughbarked said:
dv said:There have been protests in Sydney about the visit of President Herzog.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on ABC Radio:
“There’s concurrent incidents. We have the visit of a head of state, and as the police commissioner, I have a responsibility to keep safe. We have a community that is still in mourning and want to see their president. “
Hmm
From what I’ve read, the Australian Jews in the main do not support Netenyahu’s government?
LOL
Per Dr Kev Bonham’s polling averages, One Nation is faring a little better against the ALP than the Coalition is. If this trend continues it puts the Coalition in a tricky spot indeed, as even moderate conservatives would have a tactical advantage in voting ON.
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
FMD, Albanese is doing it as well.
Someone needs to prep these people.
It does raise the question of ‘so, which state do they belong to?’.
And, i can just hear some Jewish acquaintances for years back asking, ‘who ever said that we’re all tzabarim (Israeli born)?’.
maybe all the Abrahamics can just fuck off back to Jerusalem and fight it out back home
That sounds Hansonesque. One Nation for the win.
He never misses the chance to be a complete f’wit.
Spiny Norman said:
He never misses the chance to be a complete f’wit.
Oxford didn’t improve him. I think he must have been born that way.
roughbarked said:
Spiny Norman said:
He never misses the chance to be a complete f’wit.
Oxford didn’t improve him. I think he must have been born that way.
but their president is the president of Israel so we know who’s running the country
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
It does raise the question of ‘so, which state do they belong to?’.
And, i can just hear some Jewish acquaintances for years back asking, ‘who ever said that we’re all tzabarim (Israeli born)?’.
maybe all the Abrahamics can just fuck off back to Jerusalem and fight it out back home
That sounds Hansonesque. One Nation for the win.
well as they say about broken clocks even people with bad ideas can have good ideas like atheism on occasion
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Spiny Norman said:
He never misses the chance to be a complete f’wit.
Oxford didn’t improve him. I think he must have been born that way.
but their president is the president of Israel so we know who’s running the country
Are unruly or violent protests actually required
With a planet that’s under stress in numerous ways is violence justified.
People being killed in the tens of thousands or entire eco systems collapsing for example.
Those instigating the above don’t care so should they be hurt in return (I’m not talking killing innocent people Signals directorate, if you are spying)
As an individual its considered wrong and usually against the law as government its seemingly OK
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Oxford didn’t improve him. I think he must have been born that way.
but their president is the president of Israel so we know who’s running the country
Are unruly or violent protests actually required
With a planet that’s under stress in numerous ways is violence justified.
People being killed in the tens of thousands or entire eco systems collapsing for example.
Those instigating the above don’t care so should they be hurt in return (I’m not talking killing innocent people Signals directorate, if you are spying)
As an individual its considered wrong and usually against the law as government its seemingly OK
killing people through negligence or negligent omission or negligent disregard for their wellbeing may or may not legally be considered better or worse than killing them through deliberate action or commissioned action or reckless action but we can assure you, go out there and see how people respond to these ideas, and ethically they far more readily accept the negative killings than the positive killings
dv said:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F2Xd6HvCL/
I mean I guess at least he didn’t get shot, but these people have got to invest in a gopro or something so they can film handsfree.
Mr Speaker, not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country, Mr Speaker.
This is a triumph of democracy when we see these things take place.
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F2Xd6HvCL/
I mean I guess at least he didn’t get shot, but these people have got to invest in a gopro or something so they can film handsfree.
Mr Speaker, not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country, Mr Speaker.
This is a triumph of democracy when we see these things take place.
I wonder how many protests achieve the aims besides venting frustrations
The actions creating the protests likely means life isn’t valued in the first place
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F2Xd6HvCL/
I mean I guess at least he didn’t get shot, but these people have got to invest in a gopro or something so they can film handsfree.
Mr Speaker, not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country, Mr Speaker.
This is a triumph of democracy when we see these things take place.
I wonder how many protests achieve the aims besides venting frustrations
The actions creating the protests likely means life isn’t valued in the first place
well if nothing else is working then what else can one do
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Mr Speaker, not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country, Mr Speaker.
This is a triumph of democracy when we see these things take place.
I wonder how many protests achieve the aims besides venting frustrations
The actions creating the protests likely means life isn’t valued in the first place
well if nothing else is working then what else can one do
Nothing else really.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
I wonder how many protests achieve the aims besides venting frustrations
The actions creating the protests likely means life isn’t valued in the first place
well if nothing else is working then what else can one do
Nothing else really.
we suppose you could conceal or exact labour from the persecuted and disadvantaged, and give them false identity documents, and bribe the fascists
Ian said:
Ta.
Ian said:
Its interesting to note how two nations (or peoples) that fought against fascists are becoming them.
That’s what hatred does to people, justify any action in the name of security.
Dehumanise your enemy so even the children don’t count as human
Cymek said:
Ian said:
Its interesting to note how two nations (or peoples) that fought against fascists are becoming them.
That’s what hatred does to people, justify any action in the name of security.
Dehumanise your enemy so even the children don’t count as human
pretty sure it’s all just a convenient excuse to pleasure themselves with violence by this point
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Ian said:
Its interesting to note how two nations (or peoples) that fought against fascists are becoming them.
That’s what hatred does to people, justify any action in the name of security.
Dehumanise your enemy so even the children don’t count as human
pretty sure it’s all just a convenient excuse to pleasure themselves with violence by this point
Could be
Russia doesn’t count as they’d never really valued life as a government.
It’s why nothing they do is a surprise
Angus Taylor has resigned, spill expected.
maybe they can just start a new party called the Conservatives and sign everyone straight back up
SCIENCE said:
maybe they can just start a new party called the Conservatives and sign everyone straight back up
‘Gina Rinehart’s My Nation Party’?
Divine Angel said:
Angus Taylor has resigned, spill expected.
dv said:
Divine Angel said:
Angus Taylor has resigned, spill expected.
what?!
buffy said:
dv said:
Divine Angel said:
Angus Taylor has resigned, spill expected.
what?!
5 years ago, Angus forgot to switch to his sockpuppet when praising himself.
dv said:
buffy said:
dv said:
what?!
5 years ago, Angus forgot to switch to his sockpuppet when praising himself.
Don’t be so mean to Angus, just because he praised himself.
Let’s face it, no-one else was going to do it. Ever.
dv said:
Divine Angel said:
Angus Taylor has resigned, spill expected.
Hopefully Taylor will never live that down.
dv said:
buffy said:
dv said:
what?!
5 years ago, Angus forgot to switch to his sockpuppet when praising himself.
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
dv said:
Divine Angel said:
Angus Taylor has resigned, spill expected.
is he up himself or what?
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
OH goody. I really doubt a new leader can fix this.
roughbarked said:
OH goody. I really doubt a new leader can fix this.
Yeah.
Individually, they blame people, not policies for the party’s failure. They have blamed the public for not recognising their “better” policies, as well.
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
Really shows how many racists we have.
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
Really shows how many racists we have.
yeah hopefully with more ASIANS coming in the red line can yellow out a bit more too and then Australia like motherland USSAmerica can be all orange and fascist as well
Michael V said:
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:
poikilotherm said:They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
The Hansonites truly believe that Australia should be white?
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:
That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
The Hansonites truly believe that Australia should be white?
good for the Real Aussies and too bad for the illegal immigrants then
LOL
we underestimated the extent to which those financial conditions might imply a somewhat less restrictive path for policy than we thought,” he said.
The third fact to change was the surge in private demand relative to supply.
“In fact we, and I particularly, were expecting that pick-up to happen earlier and it didn’t, and our models … kept saying ‘private demand should be stronger’ and there were, you know, poor confidence issues, and tone and Trump and all the rest of it that were maybe holding things back that models struggle to take seriously,” he said.
“And again, the models were right, they were just right at the wrong time.
“So I think models are an important input. We treat them sceptically. But we don’t ignore
sure, right at the wrong time, kind of like the weather forecast hey, just wait long enough and you’ll get what you predicted
talk is cheap
“The debate is not advanced by people thinking it’s like a football team where you have to support 100 per cent one side or the other,” Albanese told his critics in both the Greens and the Coalition. “That does not advance peace.” He raised the government’s decision last year to recognise Palestinian statehood, which drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had been rarely mentioned by Albanese in the wake of Bondi. To highlight this policy shift while the Israeli president was in the country was significant. The Australian government, Albanese argued, believed “very, very strongly” in a two-state solution and “in order to do that, you need to engage constructively with Israelis and Palestinians”. Australia can have more influence with Israel, in other words, if it’s at least on speaking terms.
but at least they’ve even started to realise that they’re all just playing bullshit teamsports
SCIENCE said:
talk is cheap
“The debate is not advanced by people thinking it’s like a football team where you have to support 100 per cent one side or the other,” Albanese told his critics in both the Greens and the Coalition. “That does not advance peace.” He raised the government’s decision last year to recognise Palestinian statehood, which drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had been rarely mentioned by Albanese in the wake of Bondi. To highlight this policy shift while the Israeli president was in the country was significant. The Australian government, Albanese argued, believed “very, very strongly” in a two-state solution and “in order to do that, you need to engage constructively with Israelis and Palestinians”. Australia can have more influence with Israel, in other words, if it’s at least on speaking terms.
but at least they’ve even started to realise that they’re all just playing bullshit teamsports
sorry, now with link
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/social-cohesion-anthony-albanese-isaac-herzog/106294752
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
The Hansonites truly believe that Australia should be white?
Well first it was the Asians, then the Muslims and now the Indians: plus it’s not just Hanson. Hastie the fuckwit recently echoed Enoch Powell when he said Australians are “starting to feel like strangers in our own home”.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Ian said:
Ta.
Its interesting to note how two nations (or peoples) that fought against fascists are becoming them.
That’s what hatred does to people, justify any action in the name of security.
Dehumanise your enemy so even the children don’t count as human
pretty sure it’s all just a convenient excuse to pleasure themselves with violence by this point
Could be
Russia doesn’t count as they’d never really valued life as a government.
It’s why nothing they do is a surprise
we don’t have orange fascists like the USSA, and we don’t have police brutality like them either
wait
note: we reiterate our position that violence is no laughing matter and specifically refer to the camerawielding vultures who have gone there to do some shooting, when we say LOL @ camerawielding vultures
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:
poikilotherm said:They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
I sure hope not.
SCIENCE said:
talk is cheap
“The debate is not advanced by people thinking it’s like a football team where you have to support 100 per cent one side or the other,” Albanese told his critics in both the Greens and the Coalition. “That does not advance peace.” He raised the government’s decision last year to recognise Palestinian statehood, which drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had been rarely mentioned by Albanese in the wake of Bondi. To highlight this policy shift while the Israeli president was in the country was significant. The Australian government, Albanese argued, believed “very, very strongly” in a two-state solution and “in order to do that, you need to engage constructively with Israelis and Palestinians”. Australia can have more influence with Israel, in other words, if it’s at least on speaking terms.
but at least they’ve even started to realise that they’re all just playing bullshit teamsports
Albanese’s quoted statements seem entirely reasonable to me.
Michael V said:
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:That graph sure looks like many have.
Hanson?
No, thanks. I’d prefer not.
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
I sure hope not.
If Anxious T. gets to be the next lib leader I’ll have a real problem deciding who to put last.
I think Pauline will still get that honour though.
ABC News:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/federal-politics-live-blog-sussan-ley/106333952
Well, now that all that co-alition split nonsense has been resolved, it really is time to sort out who should be in the corner office, and get one of the chaps back in charge. Like a proper party, one that miners and multinationals and developers can donate to with confidence.
It’s been nice, Sussan, and we’ve all learnt a great deal from the experience, now off you go, oh, and mine’s white with two sugars, thanks.
The Rev Dodgson said:
SCIENCE said:
talk is cheap
“The debate is not advanced by people thinking it’s like a football team where you have to support 100 per cent one side or the other,” Albanese told his critics in both the Greens and the Coalition. “That does not advance peace.” He raised the government’s decision last year to recognise Palestinian statehood, which drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had been rarely mentioned by Albanese in the wake of Bondi. To highlight this policy shift while the Israeli president was in the country was significant. The Australian government, Albanese argued, believed “very, very strongly” in a two-state solution and “in order to do that, you need to engage constructively with Israelis and Palestinians”. Australia can have more influence with Israel, in other words, if it’s at least on speaking terms.
but at least they’ve even started to realise that they’re all just playing bullshit teamsports
Albanese’s quoted statements seem entirely reasonable to me.
yes as cost-of-living-obsessed politicians will tell you nothing unreasonable about goods being cheap
captain_spalding said:
ABC News:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/federal-politics-live-blog-sussan-ley/106333952
Well, now that all that co-alition split nonsense has been resolved, it really is time to sort out who should be in the corner office, and get one of the chaps back in charge. Like a proper party, one that miners and multinationals and developers can donate to with confidence.
It’s been nice, Sussan, and we’ve all learnt a great deal from the experience, now off you go, oh, and mine’s white with two sugars, thanks.
They could try bringing back Peter Dutton, that voter backlash was awesome.
Can we see it again, I fell off my chair.
Tau.Neutrino said:
captain_spalding said:
ABC News:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/federal-politics-live-blog-sussan-ley/106333952
Well, now that all that co-alition split nonsense has been resolved, it really is time to sort out who should be in the corner office, and get one of the chaps back in charge. Like a proper party, one that miners and multinationals and developers can donate to with confidence.
It’s been nice, Sussan, and we’ve all learnt a great deal from the experience, now off you go, oh, and mine’s white with two sugars, thanks.
They could try bringing back Peter Dutton, that voter backlash was awesome.
Can we see it again, I fell off my chair.
Are any previous old school Liberals leaders in cryo that they could revive in this leadership crisis
Cymek said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
captain_spalding said:
ABC News:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/federal-politics-live-blog-sussan-ley/106333952
Well, now that all that co-alition split nonsense has been resolved, it really is time to sort out who should be in the corner office, and get one of the chaps back in charge. Like a proper party, one that miners and multinationals and developers can donate to with confidence.
It’s been nice, Sussan, and we’ve all learnt a great deal from the experience, now off you go, oh, and mine’s white with two sugars, thanks.
They could try bringing back Peter Dutton, that voter backlash was awesome.
Can we see it again, I fell off my chair.
Are any previous old school Liberals leaders in cryo that they could revive in this leadership crisis
Honest Johnny Howard.
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
They could try bringing back Peter Dutton, that voter backlash was awesome.
Can we see it again, I fell off my chair.
Are any previous old school Liberals leaders in cryo that they could revive in this leadership crisis
Honest Johnny Howard.
Mal
veiled threats all around
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
Really shows how many racists we have.
What this really shows is that a lot of ON voters are preferencing Labor over Liberal.
dv said:
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
Really shows how many racists we have.
What this really shows is that a lot of ON voters are preferencing Labor over Liberal.
maybe but the flip side is that eventually you think you have a strong socialist bloc but when the two-way drops you have a good chance of discovering that everyone was a closet fascist all along
1/ Herzog isn’t a war criminal and his position is largely an apolitical one. It’s not as though he’s Netanyahu. If Netanyahu arrives in Australia I would hope he is arrested per our arrangements with international courts. I do think there’s sense in protestors conserving their political capital if they want the broader public on side.
Australia was among the wave of countries recognising Palestinian sovereignty recently so I don’t think people can reasonably say we’re too easy on Israel.
2/ People still do have the right to protest against Australia’s engagement with Israel, or anything else for that matter, and one-sided violence by the police in NSW appear to be a curtailment of those rights.
dv said:
1/ Herzog isn’t a war criminal and his position is largely an apolitical one. It’s not as though he’s Netanyahu. If Netanyahu arrives in Australia I would hope he is arrested per our arrangements with international courts. I do think there’s sense in protestors conserving their political capital if they want the broader public on side.
Australia was among the wave of countries recognising Palestinian sovereignty recently so I don’t think people can reasonably say we’re too easy on Israel.2/ People still do have the right to protest against Australia’s engagement with Israel, or anything else for that matter, and one-sided violence by the police in NSW appear to be a curtailment of those rights.
this
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
They’ve going to need a lot of candidates for the next election and there will be some lulus I bet.
dv said:
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
Really shows how many racists we have.
What this really shows is that a lot of ON voters are preferencing Labor over Liberal.
Or to put it another way, the swing to ON has come about equally from Lib and Lab.
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:
roughbarked said:
Really shows how many racists we have.
What this really shows is that a lot of ON voters are preferencing Labor over Liberal.
Or to put it another way, the swing to ON has come about equally from Lib and Lab.
we mean just add it up and one would be able to work out what it was right
dv said:
1/ Herzog isn’t a war criminal and his position is largely an apolitical one. It’s not as though he’s Netanyahu. If Netanyahu arrives in Australia I would hope he is arrested per our arrangements with international courts. I do think there’s sense in protestors conserving their political capital if they want the broader public on side.
Australia was among the wave of countries recognising Palestinian sovereignty recently so I don’t think people can reasonably say we’re too easy on Israel.2/ People still do have the right to protest against Australia’s engagement with Israel, or anything else for that matter, and one-sided violence by the police in NSW appear to be a curtailment of those rights.
Very fair comment.
Cymek said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
captain_spalding said:
ABC News:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/federal-politics-live-blog-sussan-ley/106333952
Well, now that all that co-alition split nonsense has been resolved, it really is time to sort out who should be in the corner office, and get one of the chaps back in charge. Like a proper party, one that miners and multinationals and developers can donate to with confidence.
It’s been nice, Sussan, and we’ve all learnt a great deal from the experience, now off you go, oh, and mine’s white with two sugars, thanks.
They could try bringing back Peter Dutton, that voter backlash was awesome.
Can we see it again, I fell off my chair.
Are any previous old school Liberals leaders in cryo that they could revive in this leadership crisis
That small chap with the glasses, likes cricket.
dv said:
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
Really shows how many racists we have.
What this really shows is that a lot of ON voters are preferencing Labor over Liberal.
Reasonable. Thanks for the insight.
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
She never changes the oil.
The Rev Dodgson said:
dv said:
roughbarked said:Really shows how many racists we have.
What this really shows is that a lot of ON voters are preferencing Labor over Liberal.
Or to put it another way, the swing to ON has come about equally from Lib and Lab.
But putting it a third way: Labor is way ahead of both the Coalition and One Nation on a two party preferred basis.
Tau.Neutrino said:
poikilotherm said:
dv said:
I call it the Bondi Venturi valve
They’ve all switched to the fish n chip lady…
She never changes the oil.
My shopping trolley: murdered.
Putting it a fourth way:
Even before the One Nation Surge and disintegration of the Coalition, 2PP was looking to be somewhat dodgy as a predictive tool due to the rise of the Teals and Greens. Times are going to be tough for polling agencies and psephological analysts as the two-party system fades.
I think basically they need to be asking people for their full preference flow, with say six basic options (ALP, ONP, Lib, Nat, Green, “a Teal independent”), from 1 to 6, so that a full trace can be done.
This is easy in online polls, as you can just get people to fill in the numbers in a ballot paper or drop and drag numbers, whatever.
But in a phone poll where people are reluctant to have their time wasted, asking people to line up a bunch of options in order might stretch people’s patience.
dv said:
Putting it a fourth way:
Even before the One Nation Surge and disintegration of the Coalition, 2PP was looking to be somewhat dodgy as a predictive tool due to the rise of the Teals and Greens. Times are going to be tough for polling agencies and psephological analysts as the two-party system fades.
I think basically they need to be asking people for their full preference flow, with say six basic options (ALP, ONP, Lib, Nat, Green, “a Teal independent”), from 1 to 6, so that a full trace can be done.
This is easy in online polls, as you can just get people to fill in the numbers in a ballot paper or drop and drag numbers, whatever.
But in a phone poll where people are reluctant to have their time wasted, asking people to line up a bunch of options in order might stretch people’s patience.
who takes voice calls these days anyway
Lib Leadership spill has been scheduled for 9 am AEDT tomoz, ie 6 am in the artificial pearl of the Indian ocean.
dv said:
Lib Leadership spill has been scheduled for 9 am AEDT tomoz, ie 6 am in the artificial pearl of the Indian ocean.
Maybe AI could help them to choose a new leader?
Having no policies AI could help them with that too.?
dv said:
Putting it a fourth way:Even before the One Nation Surge and disintegration of the Coalition, 2PP was looking to be somewhat dodgy as a predictive tool due to the rise of the Teals and Greens. Times are going to be tough for polling agencies and psephological analysts as the two-party system fades.
I think basically they need to be asking people for their full preference flow, with say six basic options (ALP, ONP, Lib, Nat, Green, “a Teal independent”), from 1 to 6, so that a full trace can be done.
This is easy in online polls, as you can just get people to fill in the numbers in a ballot paper or drop and drag numbers, whatever.
But in a phone poll where people are reluctant to have their time wasted, asking people to line up a bunch of options in order might stretch people’s patience.
For those interested in such things, there’s an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit with Antony Green
https://www.reddit.com/r/australian/comments/1qzvqcz/ama_im_antony_green_election_analyst_ask_me/
Neophyte said:
dv said:
Putting it a fourth way:Even before the One Nation Surge and disintegration of the Coalition, 2PP was looking to be somewhat dodgy as a predictive tool due to the rise of the Teals and Greens. Times are going to be tough for polling agencies and psephological analysts as the two-party system fades.
I think basically they need to be asking people for their full preference flow, with say six basic options (ALP, ONP, Lib, Nat, Green, “a Teal independent”), from 1 to 6, so that a full trace can be done.
This is easy in online polls, as you can just get people to fill in the numbers in a ballot paper or drop and drag numbers, whatever.
But in a phone poll where people are reluctant to have their time wasted, asking people to line up a bunch of options in order might stretch people’s patience.
For those interested in such things, there’s an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit with Antony Green
https://www.reddit.com/r/australian/comments/1qzvqcz/ama_im_antony_green_election_analyst_ask_me/
what colour is an orange in the dark?
JudgeMental said:
Neophyte said:
dv said:
Putting it a fourth way:Even before the One Nation Surge and disintegration of the Coalition, 2PP was looking to be somewhat dodgy as a predictive tool due to the rise of the Teals and Greens. Times are going to be tough for polling agencies and psephological analysts as the two-party system fades.
I think basically they need to be asking people for their full preference flow, with say six basic options (ALP, ONP, Lib, Nat, Green, “a Teal independent”), from 1 to 6, so that a full trace can be done.
This is easy in online polls, as you can just get people to fill in the numbers in a ballot paper or drop and drag numbers, whatever.
But in a phone poll where people are reluctant to have their time wasted, asking people to line up a bunch of options in order might stretch people’s patience.
For those interested in such things, there’s an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit with Antony Green
https://www.reddit.com/r/australian/comments/1qzvqcz/ama_im_antony_green_election_analyst_ask_me/
what colour is an orange in the dark?
Sock-sock-shoe-shoe or sock-shoe-sock-shoe?
dv said:
Lib Leadership spill has been scheduled for 9 am AEDT tomoz, ie 6 am in the artificial pearl of the Indian ocean.
May the most gormless goon win.
The Rev Dodgson said:
SCIENCE said:talk is cheap
“The debate is not advanced by people thinking it’s like a football team where you have to support 100 per cent one side or the other,” Albanese told his critics in both the Greens and the Coalition. “That does not advance peace.” He raised the government’s decision last year to recognise Palestinian statehood, which drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had been rarely mentioned by Albanese in the wake of Bondi. To highlight this policy shift while the Israeli president was in the country was significant. The Australian government, Albanese argued, believed “very, very strongly” in a two-state solution and “in order to do that, you need to engage constructively with Israelis and Palestinians”. Australia can have more influence with Israel, in other words, if it’s at least on speaking terms.
but at least they’ve even started to realise that they’re all just playing bullshit teamsports
Albanese’s quoted statements seem entirely reasonable to me.
He’s a reasonable man.
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Lib Leadership spill has been scheduled for 9 am AEDT tomoz, ie 6 am in the artificial pearl of the Indian ocean.
May the most gormless goon win.
They always do.
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
SCIENCE said:talk is cheap
“The debate is not advanced by people thinking it’s like a football team where you have to support 100 per cent one side or the other,” Albanese told his critics in both the Greens and the Coalition. “That does not advance peace.” He raised the government’s decision last year to recognise Palestinian statehood, which drew the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and had been rarely mentioned by Albanese in the wake of Bondi. To highlight this policy shift while the Israeli president was in the country was significant. The Australian government, Albanese argued, believed “very, very strongly” in a two-state solution and “in order to do that, you need to engage constructively with Israelis and Palestinians”. Australia can have more influence with Israel, in other words, if it’s at least on speaking terms.
but at least they’ve even started to realise that they’re all just playing bullshit teamsports
Albanese’s quoted statements seem entirely reasonable to me.
He’s a reasonable man.
Especially considering the state of the world and how political nonsense and not offending other leaders is considered more important than people lives.
dv said:
1/ Herzog isn’t a war criminal and his position is largely an apolitical one. It’s not as though he’s Netanyahu. If Netanyahu arrives in Australia I would hope he is arrested per our arrangements with international courts. I do think there’s sense in protestors conserving their political capital if they want the broader public on side.
Australia was among the wave of countries recognising Palestinian sovereignty recently so I don’t think people can reasonably say we’re too easy on Israel.2/ People still do have the right to protest against Australia’s engagement with Israel, or anything else for that matter, and one-sided violence by the police in NSW appear to be a curtailment of those rights.
Yes.
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Lib Leadership spill has been scheduled for 9 am AEDT tomoz, ie 6 am in the artificial pearl of the Indian ocean.
May the most gormless goon win.
The Gorn might be a welcome change.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Lib Leadership spill has been scheduled for 9 am AEDT tomoz, ie 6 am in the artificial pearl of the Indian ocean.
May the most gormless goon win.
The Gorn might be a welcome change.
He would have a very quiet front bench.
Back bench would be very quiet as well.
When asked about One Nation’s recent surge in popularity Jasper, 16, says it makes them feel “terrified”.
“I don’t like the idea of the, you know, rise of right-wing culture,” Jasper says.
“It’s a bit threatening.
“I thought that people didn’t really take that party too seriously, but one in five Australians — that’s quite a lot.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/what-young-people-think-of-one-nation/106330036
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
poikilotherm said:
If these trends continue…could be Hansonistan in 2 years time.
The Hansonites truly believe that Australia should be white?
good for the Real Aussies and too bad for the illegal immigrants then
Aren’t many of our illegal immigrants people who came here on tourist visas and overstayed?
“I really feel that I am answering the same question over and over again,”
Ms Bullock replied.> you see, the Nationals in Matt Canavan and in general the Coalition keep up with the same rhetoric. Even though they are shown the error of their ways, They are similar to Trump in that regard.
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
The Hansonites truly believe that Australia should be white?
good for the Real Aussies and too bad for the illegal immigrants then
Aren’t many of our illegal immigrants people who came here on tourist visas and overstayed?
Yes. There are a lot of those.
roughbarked said:
When asked about One Nation’s recent surge in popularity Jasper, 16, says it makes them feel “terrified”.“I don’t like the idea of the, you know, rise of right-wing culture,” Jasper says.
“It’s a bit threatening.
“I thought that people didn’t really take that party too seriously, but one in five Australians — that’s quite a lot.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/what-young-people-think-of-one-nation/106330036
Someone else to blame party
Instead of realising how complex the world is and all the flow on effects affecting Australia
Its easier to blame immigrants, minority groups and so on.
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
When asked about One Nation’s recent surge in popularity Jasper, 16, says it makes them feel “terrified”.
“I don’t like the idea of the, you know, rise of right-wing culture,” Jasper says.
“It’s a bit threatening.
“I thought that people didn’t really take that party too seriously, but one in five Australians — that’s quite a lot.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/what-young-people-think-of-one-nation/106330036
Someone else to blame party
Instead of realising how complex the world is and all the flow on effects affecting Australia
Its easier to blame immigrants, minority groups and so on.
so someone explain to us like we’re voting, there’s ridiculous heat waves and devastating fires, the paedophiles are old angry white men, and so the solution is vote for the orange “minor” party but not the green one
have we got that right
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
When asked about One Nation’s recent surge in popularity Jasper, 16, says it makes them feel “terrified”.
“I don’t like the idea of the, you know, rise of right-wing culture,” Jasper says.
“It’s a bit threatening.
“I thought that people didn’t really take that party too seriously, but one in five Australians — that’s quite a lot.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-12/what-young-people-think-of-one-nation/106330036
Someone else to blame party
Instead of realising how complex the world is and all the flow on effects affecting Australia
Its easier to blame immigrants, minority groups and so on.
so someone explain to us like we’re voting, there’s ridiculous heat waves and devastating fires, the paedophiles are old angry white men, and so the solution is vote for the orange “minor” party but not the green one
have we got that right
I suppose because what’s required to fix the world likely requires everyone in affluent nation to downgrade expectations of what we are entitled to.
To be fair and if they want it 2/3 of the world are entitled to far better living conditions than they have
People immigrate here because where they come from isn’t nice, everyone is entitled to safety and try to live a decent life.
Of course you will get bad immigrants because they are people like all us, good and bad.
I imagine most just want to live in peace.
Certain cultural practices they bring that are repressive it’s fair to say sorry but no, but not a blunt object approach
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
Someone else to blame party
Instead of realising how complex the world is and all the flow on effects affecting Australia
Its easier to blame immigrants, minority groups and so on.
so someone explain to us like we’re voting, there’s ridiculous heat waves and devastating fires, the paedophiles are old angry white men, and so the solution is vote for the orange “minor” party but not the green one
have we got that right
I suppose because what’s required to fix the world likely requires everyone in affluent nation to downgrade expectations of what we are entitled to.
To be fair and if they want it 2/3 of the world are entitled to far better living conditions than they have
People immigrate here because where they come from isn’t nice, everyone is entitled to safety and try to live a decent life.
Of course you will get bad immigrants because they are people like all us, good and bad.
I imagine most just want to live in peace.
Certain cultural practices they bring that are repressive it’s fair to say sorry but no, but not a blunt object approach
On cultural practices, It is considered illegal to damage/mutilate a young girl’s womanhood.
roughbarked said:
dv said:
1/ Herzog isn’t a war criminal and his position is largely an apolitical one. It’s not as though he’s Netanyahu. If Netanyahu arrives in Australia I would hope he is arrested per our arrangements with international courts. I do think there’s sense in protestors conserving their political capital if they want the broader public on side.
Australia was among the wave of countries recognising Palestinian sovereignty recently so I don’t think people can reasonably say we’re too easy on Israel.2/ People still do have the right to protest against Australia’s engagement with Israel, or anything else for that matter, and one-sided violence by the police in NSW appear to be a curtailment of those rights.
Yes.
I’m not sure he is apolitical. Although he doesn’t seem to be a particular friend of Netanyahu. He has apparently blamed the entire population of Gaza for their present situation (according to the Wikipedia article on him). At least in the past he has been in favour of the two state solution:
>>Ten days after the election, Herzog met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to pledge his support for the two-state solution.<<
That’s 2013, when he was leader of the opposition. Not sure what his present stance is.
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
Lib spill will be tomorrow morning. One Nation is more popular than the Libs.
buffy said:
roughbarked said:
dv said:
1/ Herzog isn’t a war criminal and his position is largely an apolitical one. It’s not as though he’s Netanyahu. If Netanyahu arrives in Australia I would hope he is arrested per our arrangements with international courts. I do think there’s sense in protestors conserving their political capital if they want the broader public on side.
Australia was among the wave of countries recognising Palestinian sovereignty recently so I don’t think people can reasonably say we’re too easy on Israel.2/ People still do have the right to protest against Australia’s engagement with Israel, or anything else for that matter, and one-sided violence by the police in NSW appear to be a curtailment of those rights.
Yes.
I’m not sure he is apolitical. Although he doesn’t seem to be a particular friend of Netanyahu. He has apparently blamed the entire population of Gaza for their present situation (according to the Wikipedia article on him). At least in the past he has been in favour of the two state solution:
>>Ten days after the election, Herzog met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to pledge his support for the two-state solution.<<
That’s 2013, when he was leader of the opposition. Not sure what his present stance is.
When I say his position is apolitical, I mean his job. The presidency is a ceremonial head of state role akin to Australia’s governor general.
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
Many of the Lib frontbench have resigned, and tomorrow morning Angus Taylor will challenge Ley for the leadership.
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
I watched the rest of These Three and quite enjoyed it even though the horrid girl wasn’t run over by a bus.
She (Bonita Granville) was actually quite good in this film and as I suspected, older in real life (14) than the child she portrayed.
Reminded me a little of the The Bad Seed (1956).
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
Lib spill will be tomorrow morning. One Nation is more popular than the Libs.
Danke. Plenty of time to make popcorn 🍿
Bubblecar said:
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
I watched the rest of These Three and quite enjoyed it even though the horrid girl wasn’t run over by a bus.
She (Bonita Granville) was actually quite good in this film and as I suspected, older in real life (14) than the child she portrayed.
Reminded me a little of the The Bad Seed (1956).
A rare Bubblecar wrong thread.
Bubblecar said:
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
I watched the rest of These Three and quite enjoyed it even though the horrid girl wasn’t run over by a bus.
She (Bonita Granville) was actually quite good in this film and as I suspected, older in real life (14) than the child she portrayed.
Reminded me a little of the The Bad Seed (1956).
Bonita Granville was excellent! That slap by Margaret Hamilton tho 👌🏼
Bubblecar said:
Bubblecar said:
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
I watched the rest of These Three and quite enjoyed it even though the horrid girl wasn’t run over by a bus.
She (Bonita Granville) was actually quite good in this film and as I suspected, older in real life (14) than the child she portrayed.
Reminded me a little of the The Bad Seed (1956).
A rare Bubblecar wrong thread.
In fairness your response did give some information on the morning’s adoings.
Divine Angel said:
Bubblecar said:
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
I watched the rest of These Three and quite enjoyed it even though the horrid girl wasn’t run over by a bus.
She (Bonita Granville) was actually quite good in this film and as I suspected, older in real life (14) than the child she portrayed.
Reminded me a little of the The Bad Seed (1956).
Bonita Granville was excellent! That slap by Margaret Hamilton tho 👌🏼
It was certainly needed.
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Can someone please give me a TLDR on today’s goings on Thankyou very much.
Lib spill will be tomorrow morning. One Nation is more popular than the Libs.
Danke. Plenty of time to make popcorn 🍿
:)
dv said:
buffy said:
roughbarked said:Yes.
I’m not sure he is apolitical. Although he doesn’t seem to be a particular friend of Netanyahu. He has apparently blamed the entire population of Gaza for their present situation (according to the Wikipedia article on him). At least in the past he has been in favour of the two state solution:
>>Ten days after the election, Herzog met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to pledge his support for the two-state solution.<<
That’s 2013, when he was leader of the opposition. Not sure what his present stance is.
When I say his position is apolitical, I mean his job. The presidency is a ceremonial head of state role akin to Australia’s governor general.
Well, as Australians of a certain age, we know that sort of head of state can meddle if they want to.
If the Liberals are at all concerned that they have been bleeding women voters to the teals, removing Sussan Ley from the leadership will only make things worse. I don’t like her, for reasons going back to when she was Health Minister (see below). But I very much doubt the wisdom of removing her at the moment.
Link to information on what happened in my last 7 years of practising wrt Medicare rebates
spectacles
ruby said:
Very true :)
The Rev Dodgson said:
ruby said:
Very true :)
at least they have ambition
ruby said:
I’m sure a Friday the 13th spill bodes well for people who trust numerology.
Liberals Discover Scott Morrison Secretly Swore Himself In As Leader 9 Months Ago
In a plot twist to the ongoing leadership spill, members of the Liberal Party have discovered today that Scott Morrison secretly swore himself in as party leader nine months prior.
As the whips and (new) backbenchers were winding down from a long day of deciding who to vote for in tomorrow’s spill, one staffer stumbled across a shocking revelation.
Unbeknownst to anyone, in the wake of the previous election loss, a certain Scotty J. Morrison snuck into the Governor General’s at night to secretly swear himself in as the party leader.
Previously presuming it was Ley behind the helm of their sinking ship, senior party members are now kicking themselves for not noticing the telltale ScoMo signs earlier.
“Whenever our polls dropped I remember thinking, ‘Last time it was this bad, we had the Liar From The Shire in charge’. Funny how hindsight works,” admitted one backbencher.
Shovel
The Rev Dodgson said:
ruby said:
Very true :)
Yeah he’s a right tosser.
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
ruby said:
Very true :)
Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:Very true :)
Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
an extremely far right tosser.
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
an extremely far right tosser.
“Hey mate, how’s it hangin’?”
“To the far right, thanks for askin’.”
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
an extremely far right tosser.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:An extreme right tosser.
an extremely far right tosser.
Lucky 13 for Sussssssan: she became leader on May 13, dumped Feb 13.
Divine Angel said:
He is never going to live that down.
Divine Angel said:
I can only see an arse with his boots sticking out.
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:Very true :)
Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:an extremely far right tosser.
Lucky 13 for Sussssssan: she became leader on May 13, dumped Feb 13.
I hope she said, “Well fuck the lot of you then, I don’t give a shit.”
Witty Rejoinder said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
I dunno about extreme right but it’s more his incompetence than his principles that worry me. Plus he’s not there only one to fall victim to the emerging fragmentation of the right here and overseas. My new favourite dickhead Andrew Hastie is flirting with the great replacement theory and is going all in on economic nationalism where market principles are abandoned and governments pick winners all because he’s having a sook about why we don’t produce cars here anymore. Errr maybe it’s because of arcane principles like comparative advantage and small government that regulates but doesn’t intervene in the market as long as inflation and unemployment are low and standards of living are rising.
His incompetence sounds rather Trumpian.
Witty Rejoinder said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
I dunno about extreme right but it’s more his incompetence than his principles that worry me. Plus he’s not there only one to fall victim to the emerging fragmentation of the right here and overseas. My new favourite dickhead Andrew Hastie is flirting with the great replacement theory and is going all in on economic nationalism where market principles are abandoned and governments pick winners all because he’s having a sook about why we don’t produce cars here anymore. Errr maybe it’s because of arcane principles like comparative advantage and small government that regulates but doesn’t intervene in the market as long as inflation and unemployment are low and standards of living are rising.
agreed.
More of an extreme tosser of the right than an extreme rightist tosser.
I suppose the conventional wisdom would be that this will improve the Lib’s position versus One Nation, and probably boost their primary vote, while worsening their 2pp vs Labor.
dv said:
I suppose the conventional wisdom would be that this will improve the Lib’s position versus One Nation, and probably boost their primary vote, while worsening their 2pp vs Labor.
So all good then?
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
He is never going to live that down.
vote early and vote often
Witty Rejoinder said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
Yeah he’s a right tosser.
An extreme right tosser.
I dunno about extreme right but it’s more his incompetence than his principles that worry me. Plus he’s not there only one to fall victim to the emerging fragmentation of the right here and overseas. My new favourite dickhead Andrew Hastie is flirting with the great replacement theory and is going all in on economic nationalism where market principles are abandoned and governments pick winners all because he’s having a sook about why we don’t produce cars here anymore. Errr maybe it’s because of arcane principles like comparative advantage and small government that regulates but doesn’t intervene in the market as long as inflation and unemployment are low and standards of living are rising.
the beauty of it is that they right parties don’t need to individually win big primary voting, they’re already shifting the window
The libs could have picked a better date to elect a new leader.
Peak Warming Man said:
The libs could have picked a better date to elect a new leader.
2026-01-26
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
He is never going to live that down.
Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
He is never going to live that down.
Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
they said that about kkk so maybe fascist australia won’t be too bad
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
He is never going to live that down.
Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
What if we tell them he is a Rhodes scholar like the great Tony Abbott and Bob Hawke.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
He is never going to live that down.
Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
Still, plenty of sycophants will likely pop up.
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:He is never going to live that down.
Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
Still, plenty of sycophants will likely pop up.
It’s the nature of the game.
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:He is never going to live that down.
Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
What if we tell them he is a Rhodes scholar like the great Tony Abbott and Bob Hawke.
Is he a raw onion eater too?
Or is he a beer schooner drinker?
I’m glad she’s bowing out rather than staying to be kicked around by Angus.
Let’s hope her seat is won by another Teal.
¿¿¿
A group of Muslim men received police permission to worship during a Sydney protest before they were disrupted mid-prayer by officers, NSW Police has confirmed.
NSW Police on Thursday confirmed the men had earlier been told they could continue their worship. “The NSW Police Force has now become aware that a senior police officer had allowed a group of Muslim protesters to continue praying at Town Hall square on Monday evening,” a spokesperson said. “The senior officer was attempting to relay that message to other officers who were carrying out a move-on direction during what was a noisy, dynamic and fast-moving situation. “However, some worshippers were moved on before the message from the senior officer was able to be relayed.”
¿¿¿
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:Angus has a cheer squad of two: himself, and that bloke he sees in the shaving mirror.
I have been criticised in the past (possibly not without cause) for having a cynical view of politicians as being quite self-serving.
I do feel rather justified in holding that opinion of Angus. Angus is there for the sake of Angus, with everything and everyone else a distant second.
His cheer squad is unlikely to attract many new and genuine members.
What if we tell them he is a Rhodes scholar like the great Tony Abbott and Bob Hawke.
Is he a raw onion eater too?
Or is he a beer schooner drinker?
Does he talk to himself in the mirror with a thick Scottish accent
Then overestimates the time to do something, do it in the actual time required like Scotty the Enterprise engineer and high give himself
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:What if we tell them he is a Rhodes scholar like the great Tony Abbott and Bob Hawke.
Is he a raw onion eater too?
Or is he a beer schooner drinker?
Does he talk to himself in the mirror with a thick Scottish accent
Then overestimates the time to do something, do it in the actual time required like Scotty the Enterprise engineer and high give himself
Scots are not known for their high giving.
Based on false negative stereotypes of course.
SCIENCE said:
¿¿¿
A group of Muslim men received police permission to worship during a Sydney protest before they were disrupted mid-prayer by officers, NSW Police has confirmed.
NSW Police on Thursday confirmed the men had earlier been told they could continue their worship. “The NSW Police Force has now become aware that a senior police officer had allowed a group of Muslim protesters to continue praying at Town Hall square on Monday evening,” a spokesperson said. “The senior officer was attempting to relay that message to other officers who were carrying out a move-on direction during what was a noisy, dynamic and fast-moving situation. “However, some worshippers were moved on before the message from the senior officer was able to be relayed.”
¿¿¿
Time and place to be fair.
Bubblecar said:
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
Lucky 13 for Sussssssan: she became leader on May 13, dumped Feb 13.
I hope she said, “Well fuck the lot of you then, I don’t give a shit.”
By election anyone?
buffy said:
Bubblecar said:
Divine Angel said:Lucky 13 for Sussssssan: she became leader on May 13, dumped Feb 13.
I hope she said, “Well fuck the lot of you then, I don’t give a shit.”
By election anyone?
Apparently.
Michael V said:
buffy said:
Bubblecar said:I hope she said, “Well fuck the lot of you then, I don’t give a shit.”
By election anyone?
Apparently.
And so it came to pass:
Having just alienated more women voters. Can that electorate swing to Labor or an independent?
buffy said:
Michael V said:
buffy said:
By election anyone?
Apparently.
And so it came to pass:
Having just alienated more women voters. Can that electorate swing to Labor or an independent?
ON FTW
She should probably hang around.
Howard lost the leadership in 1989, came back as a hero after Peacock/Hewson/Downer.
dv said:
She should probably hang around.Howard lost the leadership in 1989, came back as a hero after Peacock/Hewson/Downer.
I posted that not knowing she’d already made up her mind to go.
This should be a humdinger of a by election. Liberal and National running separately, One Nation surging, popular local independent (Michelle Milthorpe) likely to run again.
dv said:
dv said:
She should probably hang around.Howard lost the leadership in 1989, came back as a hero after Peacock/Hewson/Downer.
I posted that not knowing she’d already made up her mind to go.
This should be a humdinger of a by election. Liberal and National running separately, One Nation surging, popular local independent (Michelle Milthorpe) likely to run again.
Let’s have a progressive independent win the seat for a satisfying fart in Taylor’s face.
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
dv said:
She should probably hang around.
Howard lost the leadership in 1989, came back as a hero after Peacock/Hewson/Downer.
I posted that not knowing she’d already made up her mind to go.
This should be a humdinger of a by election. Liberal and National running separately, One Nation surging, popular local independent (Michelle Milthorpe) likely to run again.
Let’s have a progressive independent win the seat for a satisfying fart in Taylor’s face.
Maybe she should just join forces with the other women out there and start a new party called the GreenTeaLiberals.
Absolutely damning if true
Now imagine what DJT would say
Divine Angel said:
Now imagine what DJT would say
Well played Anthoney.
Divine Angel said:
Now imagine what DJT would say
You can probably guess better than most of us what Trump would say, as you work with small children.
Divine Angel said:
Now imagine what DJT would say
Ah, the relative dignity of Australian politics.
dv said:
Divine Angel said:
Now imagine what DJT would say
Ah, the relative dignity of Australian politics.
Our politicians do have a considerable way to go before they’ve descended to the infantile depths of their US equivalents.
Which is not to say that there aren’t some who’d happily take the express route to that destination.
Carrick Ryan
Angus Taylor’s ascension to the Liberal Party leadership will reveal a lot about the recent surge in popularity of One Nation, particularly whether this surge represents a structural shift or simply another cyclical protest spike remains unclear
Essentially, we will soon better understand if a large part of the electorate has lurched to the right, or whether Australia’s conservative party is simply experiencing a factional civil war.
Because it’s worth asking the question, how much further to the right is One Nation today than the Coalition was under Peter Dutton? The fact that the former leader of the Nationals was able to become the star recruit of One Nation without changing any major policy stances should be a pretty big clue.
So what has caused this sudden existential crisis for a political party which has always had “moderate” and “right wing” factions, yet was able to win a federal election as recently as 2019?
A large part is because social media has stretched the political spectrum so much that the ideological bell curve is flattening out. Even the Labor Party is confronting dissent from within for not being progressive enough on key issues like climate change and Israel.
Social media has a tendency to reinforce our beliefs, essentially radicalising ourselves on multiple issues. This means our cultural dividing lines are no longer on just a few major policy issues, they’re drawn across multiple front lines, especially within controversial culture war topics.
The internet has made us more puritanical in our beliefs, and less compromising, and substantially more likely to be angry at those who disagree with us. As the numbers of those willing to agree to disagree shrinks, the silos of those willing to work together gets smaller, and greater in number.
I’m not suggesting that the grievances that are fuelling One Nation’s surge in support aren’t sincere, but I don’t think those grievances are particularly new. I simply think that a large number of more conservative voters now find it impossible to vote for the Coalition while it’s being led by a centre-right woman, while previous generations saw a more binary choice along a handful of ideological lines, usually taxation, industrial relations, and government spending.
Taylor is against emissions targets, is a social conservative, and has argued for cuts to migration, particularly among those that don’t share “Australian values”.
One Nation effectively share these policy platforms, albeit with a more MAGA style populist tint (e.g. a “Muslim ban” and withdrawing from several international conventions). Simply handing the reins of the Coalition back to a conservative of similar shape and sound as Dutton, Morrison, or even Howard, might be sufficient to lure back a large number of the disaffected voters currently signalling their intent to switch camps.
Taylor may not be ideologically outspoken as Hanson, but symbolically he signals a return to a more traditional conservative identity that has defined the Liberal Party since the 1990s.
The problem Taylor will face is that appeasing this cohort necessitates abandoning another, with women in particular likely to look upon the treatment of Sussan Ley with depressing familiarity, while metropolitan voters will struggle to support a political party with such indifference to established science.
Both Labor and the Liberal Party are experiencing the consequences of increasingly passionate factionalism. Yet while Albanese has leant into the centre to ensure a broad electoral popularity, Taylor will likely prioritise leaning further to the right in an attempt to prove his conservative credentials.
Unlike the USA or UK, however, compulsory voting in Australia means that elections are won at the centre, and while the bell curve is flattening, it’s difficult to see how anyone forms government without broad support from moderate and less engaged voters.
The big variable in this to consider is how significantly Australia’s richest person, with the support of the White House, and Elon Musk, can move the electoral centre by the next election. Polling over the coming weeks will provide an insight into whether are political centre has shifted, or whether the Coalition was simply stretched too far to contain itself any longer.
Divine Angel said:
Now imagine what DJT would say
Hmmmmm.
JudgeMental said:
Carrick RyanAngus Taylor’s ascension to the Liberal Party leadership will reveal a lot about the recent surge in popularity of One Nation, particularly whether this surge represents a structural shift or simply another cyclical protest spike remains unclear
Essentially, we will soon better understand if a large part of the electorate has lurched to the right, or whether Australia’s conservative party is simply experiencing a factional civil war.
Because it’s worth asking the question, how much further to the right is One Nation today than the Coalition was under Peter Dutton? The fact that the former leader of the Nationals was able to become the star recruit of One Nation without changing any major policy stances should be a pretty big clue.
So what has caused this sudden existential crisis for a political party which has always had “moderate” and “right wing” factions, yet was able to win a federal election as recently as 2019?
A large part is because social media has stretched the political spectrum so much that the ideological bell curve is flattening out. Even the Labor Party is confronting dissent from within for not being progressive enough on key issues like climate change and Israel.
Social media has a tendency to reinforce our beliefs, essentially radicalising ourselves on multiple issues. This means our cultural dividing lines are no longer on just a few major policy issues, they’re drawn across multiple front lines, especially within controversial culture war topics.
The internet has made us more puritanical in our beliefs, and less compromising, and substantially more likely to be angry at those who disagree with us. As the numbers of those willing to agree to disagree shrinks, the silos of those willing to work together gets smaller, and greater in number.
I’m not suggesting that the grievances that are fuelling One Nation’s surge in support aren’t sincere, but I don’t think those grievances are particularly new. I simply think that a large number of more conservative voters now find it impossible to vote for the Coalition while it’s being led by a centre-right woman, while previous generations saw a more binary choice along a handful of ideological lines, usually taxation, industrial relations, and government spending.
Taylor is against emissions targets, is a social conservative, and has argued for cuts to migration, particularly among those that don’t share “Australian values”.
One Nation effectively share these policy platforms, albeit with a more MAGA style populist tint (e.g. a “Muslim ban” and withdrawing from several international conventions). Simply handing the reins of the Coalition back to a conservative of similar shape and sound as Dutton, Morrison, or even Howard, might be sufficient to lure back a large number of the disaffected voters currently signalling their intent to switch camps.
Taylor may not be ideologically outspoken as Hanson, but symbolically he signals a return to a more traditional conservative identity that has defined the Liberal Party since the 1990s.
The problem Taylor will face is that appeasing this cohort necessitates abandoning another, with women in particular likely to look upon the treatment of Sussan Ley with depressing familiarity, while metropolitan voters will struggle to support a political party with such indifference to established science.
Both Labor and the Liberal Party are experiencing the consequences of increasingly passionate factionalism. Yet while Albanese has leant into the centre to ensure a broad electoral popularity, Taylor will likely prioritise leaning further to the right in an attempt to prove his conservative credentials.
Unlike the USA or UK, however, compulsory voting in Australia means that elections are won at the centre, and while the bell curve is flattening, it’s difficult to see how anyone forms government without broad support from moderate and less engaged voters.
The big variable in this to consider is how significantly Australia’s richest person, with the support of the White House, and Elon Musk, can move the electoral centre by the next election. Polling over the coming weeks will provide an insight into whether are political centre has shifted, or whether the Coalition was simply stretched too far to contain itself any longer.
>>Simply handing the reins of the Coalition back to a conservative of similar shape and sound as Dutton, Morrison, or even Howard, might be sufficient to lure back a large number of the disaffected voters currently signalling their intent to switch camps.<<
I am in Dan Tehan’s electorate, which was previously Malcolm Fraser’s a long time ago. There was a big defection of very very blueblood Liberals here to an independent last election (and the one before). Not enough to unseat Dan Tehan, but dangerously close. And I can tell you, they disliked Morrison and Dutton types with a vengeance.
JudgeMental said:
Carrick Ryan
Angus Taylor’s ascension to the Liberal Party leadership will reveal a lot about the recent surge in popularity of One Nation, particularly whether this surge represents a structural shift or simply another cyclical protest spike remains unclear
Essentially, we will soon better understand if a large part of the electorate has lurched to the right, or whether Australia’s conservative party is simply experiencing a factional civil war.
Because it’s worth asking the question, how much further to the right is One Nation today than the Coalition was under Peter Dutton? The fact that the former leader of the Nationals was able to become the star recruit of One Nation without changing any major policy stances should be a pretty big clue.
So what has caused this sudden existential crisis for a political party which has always had “moderate” and “right wing” factions, yet was able to win a federal election as recently as 2019?
A large part is because social media has stretched the political spectrum so much that the ideological bell curve is flattening out. Even the Labor Party is confronting dissent from within for not being progressive enough on key issues like climate change and Israel.
Social media has a tendency to reinforce our beliefs, essentially radicalising ourselves on multiple issues. This means our cultural dividing lines are no longer on just a few major policy issues, they’re drawn across multiple front lines, especially within controversial culture war topics.
The internet has made us more puritanical in our beliefs, and less compromising, and substantially more likely to be angry at those who disagree with us. As the numbers of those willing to agree to disagree shrinks, the silos of those willing to work together gets smaller, and greater in number.
I’m not suggesting that the grievances that are fuelling One Nation’s surge in support aren’t sincere, but I don’t think those grievances are particularly new. I simply think that a large number of more conservative voters now find it impossible to vote for the Coalition while it’s being led by a centre-right woman, while previous generations saw a more binary choice along a handful of ideological lines, usually taxation, industrial relations, and government spending.
Taylor is against emissions targets, is a social conservative, and has argued for cuts to migration, particularly among those that don’t share “Australian values”.
One Nation effectively share these policy platforms, albeit with a more MAGA style populist tint (e.g. a “Muslim ban” and withdrawing from several international conventions). Simply handing the reins of the Coalition back to a conservative of similar shape and sound as Dutton, Morrison, or even Howard, might be sufficient to lure back a large number of the disaffected voters currently signalling their intent to switch camps.
Taylor may not be ideologically outspoken as Hanson, but symbolically he signals a return to a more traditional conservative identity that has defined the Liberal Party since the 1990s.
The problem Taylor will face is that appeasing this cohort necessitates abandoning another, with women in particular likely to look upon the treatment of Sussan Ley with depressing familiarity, while metropolitan voters will struggle to support a political party with such indifference to established science.
Both Labor and the Liberal Party are experiencing the consequences of increasingly passionate factionalism. Yet while Albanese has leant into the centre to ensure a broad electoral popularity, Taylor will likely prioritise leaning further to the right in an attempt to prove his conservative credentials.
Unlike the USA or UK, however, compulsory voting in Australia means that elections are won at the centre, and while the bell curve is flattening, it’s difficult to see how anyone forms government without broad support from moderate and less engaged voters.
The big variable in this to consider is how significantly Australia’s richest person, with the support of the White House, and Elon Musk, can move the electoral centre by the next election. Polling over the coming weeks will provide an insight into whether are political centre has shifted, or whether the Coalition was simply stretched too far to contain itself any longer.
clinging to the old non rules based liberal if you’re the right demographic group international order there we see
a rise in fascist aligned politics everywhere as fascists in some places gain strength and interfere help with politics in other places, and we’re still telling the naïve readers it’s just a factional disagreement
sure
Steve Bannon’s assistance did not seem to benefit Clive Palmer’s campaign much in 2019
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
Now imagine what DJT would say
You can probably guess better than most of us what Trump would say, as you work with small children.
pretty sure there’s gen爱 for that
It took 80 years for a woman to become Liberal leader, and 9 months to ditch her
so it’s a bit like pregnancy
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/sussan-ley-s-time-as-liberal-leader/106045934
Hey she lasted longer than Downer.
But not as long as Nelson.
Someone I don’t know much about is the deputy leader of the opposition, Senator Jane Hume. She had an outer ministry position under Morrison but did not have a part of the Shadow Cabinet under Ley.
Is gaining leadership of The Liberals like become Fuhrer after Hitler killed himself
Is he really this stupid?
kii said:
Angus Taylor’s brain.Is he really this stupid?
Yes.
Unless it involves some scam where he can turn a good dollar, like to do with water licenses. Then, he’s as cunning as a shithouse rat.
captain_spalding said:
kii said:
Angus Taylor’s brain.Is he really this stupid?
Yes.
Unless it involves some scam where he can turn a good dollar, like to do with water licenses. Then, he’s as cunning as a shithouse rat.
So much to learn about Australian politics. I wish I didn’t know all that I do about US politics.
I did hear today that Malcolm Turnbull described Angus Taylor as the most qualified idiot that most people have ever met.
I agree, but what I can’t quite get my head around is just why this turd is not in jail yet.
Google water licenses and offshore bank accounts.
buffy said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
It took 80 years for a woman to become Liberal leader, and 9 months to ditch her
so it’s a bit like pregnancy
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/sussan-ley-s-time-as-liberal-leader/106045934
Hey she lasted longer than Downer.
But not as long as Nelson.
there yous go they said it
Kingy said:
I did hear today that Malcolm Turnbull described Angus Taylor as the most qualified idiot that most people have ever met.I agree, but what I can’t quite get my head around is just why this turd is not in jail yet.
Google water licenses and offshore bank accounts.
Him and Barnaby both.
Anyway, as I’ve stated before, I’m in the electorate now known as Farrer. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-14/farrer-constituents-react-sussan-ley-resignation/106341264
roughbarked said:
Anyway, as I’ve stated before, I’m in the electorate now known as Farrer. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-14/farrer-constituents-react-sussan-ley-resignation/106341264
We used to be Riverina, which at one stage strangely also included Broken Hill, which gave the Labor party more favour.
Around the time we got Sussan, Riverina was melded into Farrer.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Anyway, as I’ve stated before, I’m in the electorate now known as Farrer. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-14/farrer-constituents-react-sussan-ley-resignation/106341264
We used to be Riverina, which at one stage strangely also included Broken Hill, which gave the Labor party more favour.
Around the time we got Sussan, Riverina was melded into Farrer.
Wow, that’s a massive area covered by the electorate!
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Anyway, as I’ve stated before, I’m in the electorate now known as Farrer. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-14/farrer-constituents-react-sussan-ley-resignation/106341264
We used to be Riverina, which at one stage strangely also included Broken Hill, which gave the Labor party more favour.
Around the time we got Sussan, Riverina was melded into Farrer.
Wow, that’s a massive area covered by the electorate!
not quite as big as Kalgoorlie.
“Friday the 13th turned out to be an ominous day for Ms Ley, a numerology fan from way back.”
Dear oh dear abc. Numerology has nothing to do with Friday the 13th.
buffy said:
Annabel Crabb on Sussan Ley
“Her entire life and career — in farming, aviation, the finance sector, politics — is testament to her preparedness to advance dauntlessly into the denser cock-forests of the Australian biosphere. “
roughbarked said:
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:We used to be Riverina, which at one stage strangely also included Broken Hill, which gave the Labor party more favour.
Around the time we got Sussan, Riverina was melded into Farrer.
Wow, that’s a massive area covered by the electorate!
not quite as big as Kalgoorlie.
At school we had a word search or crossword or something. When filled out correctly, the highlighted letters spelled out the largest electorate in the country: Kalgoorlie WA.
The Rev Dodgson said:
buffy said:
Annabel Crabb on Sussan Ley
“Her entire life and career — in farming, aviation, the finance sector, politics — is testament to her preparedness to advance dauntlessly into the denser cock-forests of the Australian biosphere. “
Unfortunately the cock-forest is an invasive species.
roughbarked said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
buffy said:
Annabel Crabb on Sussan Ley
“Her entire life and career — in farming, aviation, the finance sector, politics — is testament to her preparedness to advance dauntlessly into the denser cock-forests of the Australian biosphere. “
Unfortunately the cock-forest is an invasive species.
*snort
Helen Dalton has not ruled out contesting the seat.
Well she has a history of switching alliances.
In reality, it is all about her self int er ests.
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458
This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
Why are we still giving this has-been (actually never-was) air time? It looks to me like he’s trying to stay relevant when he hasn’t been for years.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
The racists will continue to vote for the racist far rightists. At the moment, that vote is probably divided between One Nation, the Liberals and the Nationals. Perhaps the Teals might form a party. That’d be good.
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
There are a lot of them if you are going to do that.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
Which has indubitably refuted by the multicultural policy..
btm said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
Why are we still giving this has-been (actually never-was) air time? It looks to me like he’s trying to stay relevant when he hasn’t been for years.
This. However, he seems to think he has the same creditability of John Howard.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
This.
Michael V said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
The racists will continue to vote for the racist far rightists. At the moment, that vote is probably divided between One Nation, the Liberals and the Nationals. Perhaps the Teals might form a party. That’d be good.
Go the Teals.
Tony Abbott needs to fit in or fuck off.
Michael V said:
Perhaps the Teals might form a party. That’d be good.
I agree with this.
If get as few maps together which show: electorates which traditionally voted Liberal, higher affluence and income, those who have higher education, professional occupations, professional women, “No Religion” on the census. Overlay these maps and you’ll see a very strong correlation. These people are the ones turning away from the old boys club of the Liberal party and seeking a new alternative, hence the rise of the Teals. They’d never vote Labor even as a protest vote, but if they were given a new party to vote for they might take it. Which I think would be a good thing for Australian politics.
party_pants said:
Michael V said:Perhaps the Teals might form a party. That’d be good.I agree with this.
If get as few maps together which show: electorates which traditionally voted Liberal, higher affluence and income, those who have higher education, professional occupations, professional women, “No Religion” on the census. Overlay these maps and you’ll see a very strong correlation. These people are the ones turning away from the old boys club of the Liberal party and seeking a new alternative, hence the rise of the Teals. They’d never vote Labor even as a protest vote, but if they were given a new party to vote for they might take it. Which I think would be a good thing for Australian politics.
It would get them away from One Nation.
party_pants said:
Michael V said:Perhaps the Teals might form a party. That’d be good.I agree with this.
If- get as- few maps together which show: electorates which traditionally voted Liberal, higher affluence and income, those who have higher education, professional occupations, professional women, “No Religion” on the census. Overlay these maps and you’ll see a very strong correlation. These people are the ones turning away from the old boys club of the Liberal party and seeking a new alternative, hence the rise of the Teals. They’d never vote Labor even as a protest vote, but if they were given a new party to vote for they might take it. Which I think would be a good thing for Australian politics.
If we get a few maps together
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
…………………………..we should limit immigration to atheists……………………..
I’d support this, for sure.
Bubblecar said:
Tony Abbott needs to fit in or fuck off.
LOLOL
Michael V said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
…………………………..we should limit immigration to atheists……………………..
I’d support this, for sure.
It would surely help to balance the community.
Michael V said:
Bubblecar said:
Tony Abbott needs to fit in or fuck off.
LOLOL
Preferably, fuck off.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
Bubblecar said:
Tony Abbott needs to fit in or fuck off.
LOLOL
Preferably, fuck off.
Well, he did FO for while, to the UK, but they, presumably, got tired of his shit and somehow persuaded him to comeback here and bother us again.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:LOLOL
Preferably, fuck off.
Well, he did FO for while, to the UK, but they, presumably, got tired of his shit and somehow persuaded him to comeback here and bother us again.
The bastards.
JudgeMental said:
Ha!
:)
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
…given that fifty years ago it wasn’t a noticeably Christian nation, either.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
We are equally as heavily influenced by Greco-Roman philosophy too. But we don’t hear people talking about much about this as being part of our core values.
Bubblecar said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
…given that fifty years ago it wasn’t a noticeably Christian nation, either.
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/10072ec3ffc4f7b4ca2570ec00787c40!OpenDocument
Witty Rejoinder said:
Bubblecar said:
Witty Rejoinder said:You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
…given that fifty years ago it wasn’t a noticeably Christian nation, either.
Yes it was:https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/10072ec3ffc4f7b4ca2570ec00787c40!OpenDocument
What people say and what they’re actually like are quite different.
Most Australians are not noticeably religious at all, and this includes most who call themselves “Christians”.
If anything, that was even more the case in the past, since in the past many of the Australians who called themselves Christians only did so out of family tradition, and no longer call themselves Christians today.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
We are equally as heavily influenced by Greco-Roman philosophy too. But we don’t hear people talking about much about this as being part of our core values.
But that philosophy has already been largely incorporated into the AC-JC framework that you’re dismissing. Plus how many people know the tenets of stoicism?
Bubblecar said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Bubblecar said:…given that fifty years ago it wasn’t a noticeably Christian nation, either.
Yes it was:https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/10072ec3ffc4f7b4ca2570ec00787c40!OpenDocument
What people say and what they’re actually like are quite different.
Most Australians are not noticeably religious at all, and this includes most who call themselves “Christians”.
If anything, that was even more the case in the past, since in the past many of the Australians who called themselves Christians only did so out of family tradition, and no longer call themselves Christians today.
Are some of these false-Christians Scottish by any chance?
Michael V said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
No, he is talking about immigration and his preference for cultural assimilation and that kind of thing. I just don’t think that christianity has that much of an appeal to the general public as much as he likes to think. A very large chunk of the population marked “No Religion” on the last census, while not an outright majority (yet) it is large enough to be mainstream. If he is worried about immigrants fitting in to Australian culture and values, maybe we should limit immigration to atheists rather than christians.
…………………………..we should limit immigration to atheists……………………..
I’d support this, for sure.
+INF
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Tony Abbott doesn’t know when to shut up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-13/tony-abbott-on-angus-taylor-one-nation-immigration-assimilation/106342458This bit: “Our character is essentially Anglo-Celtic and Judaeo-Christian.” I think is just plain wrong.
I am not Judeo-Christian, I reject all of it as made-up bullshit, I am probably more aligned to the Stoic outlook on life. Also, I am not of Anglo or Celtic ancestry, my ancestors come from mainland northern Europe around the Netherlands-German border.
Yet, I was born here, I have lived her all my life, Australian English is my native language: there is no other place I call my homeland. But I’m not A-C and J-C.
Some needs to tell him to GAGF.
Not wanting to be seen defending Abbott, however he might have been talking about the makeup of our governing institutions and society which is primarily based on British ones like parliamentary democracy, the common law legal system, the use of juries etc
yes we think it should go further than that, it’s obvious that ACJC governance and institutions and law are the best and correct way to do things and everyone else should be aligned with them by choice or by force
anyway pretty sure there are plenty of model countries out there that can show us what it’s like to have governing systems that endorse specific religions and a requirement for others in the country to adhere to the rules laws customs of those specific religions
Witty Rejoinder said:
Bubblecar said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Yes it was:
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/10072ec3ffc4f7b4ca2570ec00787c40!OpenDocument
What people say and what they’re actually like are quite different.
Most Australians are not noticeably religious at all, and this includes most who call themselves “Christians”.
If anything, that was even more the case in the past, since in the past many of the Australians who called themselves Christians only did so out of family tradition, and no longer call themselves Christians today.
Are some of these false-Christians Scottish by any chance?
Scottish or nay, most of them know little about Christianity, rarely if ever attend church and are unlikely to have any habit of religious observance.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:You can be a member of a predominantly religious society and not be a believer oneself yet still have been inculcated into that society’s moral and ethical framework. The same is true of secular institutions. Moreover societies are shaped over decades and centuries so I’d argue that the recent rise in atheism over the past thirty years has not necessarily changed Australia that much from the primarily Christian nation it was fifty years ago.
We are equally as heavily influenced by Greco-Roman philosophy too. But we don’t hear people talking about much about this as being part of our core values.
But that philosophy has already been largely incorporated into the AC-JC framework that you’re dismissing. Plus how many people know the tenets of stoicism?
I’d say that Greco-Roman philosophic principle has been incorporated into our society, often in direct conflict to christain based opposition. Literal wars have been fought to establish rule by parliaments over monarchs ruling by divine right. Christianity has often been on the losing side of the argument against setting up proper civic institutions and laws and all that.
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too. They were hardly a christisan-inspired movement either. Often christians were their opposition.
My reading of history is as Christianity being a negative force, and rational philosophy being the modernising force, with often the two being in fierce opposition.
Bubblecar said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Bubblecar said:
What people say and what they’re actually like are quite different.
Most Australians are not noticeably religious at all, and this includes most who call themselves “Christians”.
If anything, that was even more the case in the past, since in the past many of the Australians who called themselves Christians only did so out of family tradition, and no longer call themselves Christians today.
Are some of these false-Christians Scottish by any chance?
Scottish or nay, most of them know little about Christianity, rarely if ever attend church and are unlikely to have any habit of religious observance.
but what about when the team sports bell rings and the pressure is on to show your alignment with flags and chants and anthems and armbands
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Are some of these false-Christians Scottish by any chance?
Scottish or nay, most of them know little about Christianity, rarely if ever attend church and are unlikely to have any habit of religious observance.
but what about when the team sports bell rings and the pressure is on to show your alignment with flags and chants and anthems and armbands
“Oi oi oi!” is not a religious observance.
Bubblecar said:
SCIENCE said:Bubblecar said:
Scottish or nay, most of them know little about Christianity, rarely if ever attend church and are unlikely to have any habit of religious observance.
but what about when the team sports bell rings and the pressure is on to show your alignment with flags and chants and anthems and armbands
“Oi oi oi!” is not a religious observance.
Probably uttered religiously though.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:We are equally as heavily influenced by Greco-Roman philosophy too. But we don’t hear people talking about much about this as being part of our core values.
But that philosophy has already been largely incorporated into the AC-JC framework that you’re dismissing. Plus how many people know the tenets of stoicism?
I’d say that Greco-Roman philosophic principle has been incorporated into our society, often in direct conflict to christain based opposition. Literal wars have been fought to establish rule by parliaments over monarchs ruling by divine right. Christianity has often been on the losing side of the argument against setting up proper civic institutions and laws and all that.
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too. They were hardly a christisan-inspired movement either. Often christians were their opposition.
My reading of history is as Christianity being a negative force, and rational philosophy being the modernising force, with often the two being in fierce opposition.
I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:But that philosophy has already been largely incorporated into the AC-JC framework that you’re dismissing. Plus how many people know the tenets of stoicism?
I’d say that Greco-Roman philosophic principle has been incorporated into our society, often in direct conflict to christain based opposition. Literal wars have been fought to establish rule by parliaments over monarchs ruling by divine right. Christianity has often been on the losing side of the argument against setting up proper civic institutions and laws and all that.
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too. They were hardly a christisan-inspired movement either. Often christians were their opposition.
My reading of history is as Christianity being a negative force, and rational philosophy being the modernising force, with often the two being in fierce opposition.
I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Ooops… enlightenment=Renaissance
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:But that philosophy has already been largely incorporated into the AC-JC framework that you’re dismissing. Plus how many people know the tenets of stoicism?
I’d say that Greco-Roman philosophic principle has been incorporated into our society, often in direct conflict to christain based opposition. Literal wars have been fought to establish rule by parliaments over monarchs ruling by divine right. Christianity has often been on the losing side of the argument against setting up proper civic institutions and laws and all that.
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too. They were hardly a christisan-inspired movement either. Often christians were their opposition.
My reading of history is as Christianity being a negative force, and rational philosophy being the modernising force, with often the two being in fierce opposition.
I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Nothing is ever that binary, but for the sake of brevity were are somewhat forced into generalisations when typing up our posts.
My point is that christianity is not the principle basis to what I think are the true core values of our modern culture and civilisation. I see human rational inquiry as driving those core values. So very time I hear a politician say that we are still a Judeo-Christian country and should seek to remain that way, I feel bound to disagree.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
I’d say that Greco-Roman philosophic principle has been incorporated into our society, often in direct conflict to christain based opposition. Literal wars have been fought to establish rule by parliaments over monarchs ruling by divine right. Christianity has often been on the losing side of the argument against setting up proper civic institutions and laws and all that.
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too. They were hardly a christisan-inspired movement either. Often christians were their opposition.
My reading of history is as Christianity being a negative force, and rational philosophy being the modernising force, with often the two being in fierce opposition.
I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Nothing is ever that binary, but for the sake of brevity were are somewhat forced into generalisations when typing up our posts.
My point is that christianity is not the principle basis to what I think are the true core values of our modern culture and civilisation. I see human rational inquiry as driving those core values. So very time I hear a politician say that we are still a Judeo-Christian country and should seek to remain that way, I feel bound to disagree.
yeah
in any case adherence to traditions because they are traditions is a bullshit policy and we contend that we have ways of finding what works better and thus should do better when we can
party_pants said:
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too.
……. and wrestling at the Olympics as well, hey what but.
But I don’t see that happening all the time in the loungerooms of Australian suburbia.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:I’d say that Greco-Roman philosophic principle has been incorporated into our society, often in direct conflict to christain based opposition. Literal wars have been fought to establish rule by parliaments over monarchs ruling by divine right. Christianity has often been on the losing side of the argument against setting up proper civic institutions and laws and all that.
It is not just Greco-Roman philosophy, there is a lot of Enlightenment thinking in there too. They were hardly a christisan-inspired movement either. Often christians were their opposition.
My reading of history is as Christianity being a negative force, and rational philosophy being the modernising force, with often the two being in fierce opposition.
I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Nothing is ever that binary, but for the sake of brevity were are somewhat forced into generalisations when typing up our posts.
My point is that christianity is not the principle basis to what I think are the true core values of our modern culture and civilisation. I see human rational inquiry as driving those core values. So very time I hear a politician say that we are still a Judeo-Christian country and should seek to remain that way, I feel bound to disagree.
Although Christian prayers are said at the start of each parliamentary day.
Woodie said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Nothing is ever that binary, but for the sake of brevity were are somewhat forced into generalisations when typing up our posts.
My point is that christianity is not the principle basis to what I think are the true core values of our modern culture and civilisation. I see human rational inquiry as driving those core values. So very time I hear a politician say that we are still a Judeo-Christian country and should seek to remain that way, I feel bound to disagree.
Although Christian prayers are said at the start of each parliamentary day.
Parliament could easily function without them. They are not central to the business of making laws.
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.
Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
It would be much more satisfying if Ley, having been turfed out of the leadership, said, “Fuck you, now I’m going to publicly endorse an independent”, while resigning her Lib Party membership.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
Knowing Angus from his history, he’s lying through his teeth.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
Yes that would be good, but as I have been saying, I think those ordinary Australian values are not quite what Angus is expecting them to be. Especially not in the current day.
Something something………… In the Ikea loungerooms of Australian suburbia
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
wish all these tools, who bullshit their way forward with talk of Australian value, would just come clean and say exactly what values they are standing for, just be clear
Woodie said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:I don’t think it is that binary in nature. Until Darwin and evolutionary theory theism was pretty much the default option for explaining the physical world and man’s place in it. Even enlightenment thinkers like Galileo who experienced much friction with the Catholic establishment was himself a devout Catholic.
Nothing is ever that binary, but for the sake of brevity were are somewhat forced into generalisations when typing up our posts.
My point is that christianity is not the principle basis to what I think are the true core values of our modern culture and civilisation. I see human rational inquiry as driving those core values. So very time I hear a politician say that we are still a Judeo-Christian country and should seek to remain that way, I feel bound to disagree.
Although Christian prayers are said at the start of each parliamentary day.
ah so that’s how they separate church and state
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
wish all these tools, who bullshit their way forward with talk of Australian value, would just come clean and say exactly what values they are standing for, just be clear
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
wish all these tools, who bullshit their way forward with talk of Australian value, would just come clean and say exactly what values they are standing for, just be clear
I’m not clickin’ on that. It’ll just be a blank space.
Politicians logic
These are my values
I am an Australian
Therefore my values are Australian values.
Rinse and repeat.
party_pants said:
Politicians logicThese are my values
I am an Australian
Therefore my values are Australian values.Rinse and repeat.
I am, you are, he is, they are, that one under there is, all those up there are, her downstairs, Dezi Freeman, Mr Squiggle, we are Australian.
Bubblecar said:
party_pants said:
Politicians logicThese are my values
I am an Australian
Therefore my values are Australian values.Rinse and repeat.
I am, you are, he is, they are, that one under there is, all those up there are, her downstairs, Dezi Freeman, Mr Squiggle, we are Australian.
Mr Squiggle isn’t Australian, he’s Moonian…
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
wish all these tools, who bullshit their way forward with talk of Australian value, would just come clean and say exactly what values they are standing for, just be clear
For the value of iron ore, for the value of coal, for the value of natural gas exports…
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
Fair.
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
After losing the Liberal Party leadership ballot to Mr Taylor on Friday, Ms Ley announced she would be resigning from parliament, which will trigger a by-election in the south-western NSW seat of Farrer.Mr Taylor conceded it would be difficult for the Liberal Party to retain the seat.
“Of course it’s going to be challenging, Farrer will be challenging, it will be a cast of many but we’re going to be out there fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe in,” he said.
“We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
An independent candidate who is putting her hand up for Farrer said locals were tired of the Coalition’s infighting.
> Guess that latter means that Helen Dalton has announced she’ll be having a tilt ar the job.
““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
Fair.
It would be fun if Helen Dalton got the gig for Farrer. She tried to introduce a bill about water ownership in NSW.
I wonder if Angus is still dabbling in water….
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:wish all these tools, who bullshit their way forward with talk of Australian value, would just come clean and say exactly what values they are standing for, just be clear
I’m not clickin’ on that. It’ll just be a blank space.
Heh.
ruby said:
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:““We need to demonstrate to ordinary Australians that we stand for their values, their way of life.”
A laudable aim.
Who knows, one of these days, they may make an attempt to do just that. But, i don’t think that the current bunch, under Angus, are the likely ones to do it.
Fair.
It would be fun if Helen Dalton got the gig for Farrer. She tried to introduce a bill about water ownership in NSW.
I wonder if Angus is still dabbling in water….
Water is money.
JudgeMental said:
LOL
Michael V said:
JudgeMental said:
LOL
can’t believe he actually sent that
JudgeMental said:
Hang on a sec. It is signed by Angus Taylor.
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:
Hang on a sec. It is signed by Angus Taylor.
That’s the joke
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:
Hang on a sec. It is signed by Angus Taylor.
That’s the joke.
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:
Hang on a sec. It is signed by Angus Taylor.
That’s the joke
Yeah. Except unlike Joyce, somehow Angus isn’t so funny.
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-15/story-lab-one-nation-polling/106322978
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Yes. I know but unless Barnaby tilts for that role I’m sure she’d love the job.
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Yes. I know but unless Barnaby tilts for that role I’m sure she’d love the job.
they need more than just barnaby in the lower house. need around 74 seats.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-15/story-lab-one-nation-polling/106322978
“I don’t like it”
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Yes. I know but unless Barnaby tilts for that role I’m sure she’d love the job.
they need more than just barnaby in the lower house. need around 74 seats.
The way voters are defecting to them, that may come about sooner than we think.
JudgeMental said:
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
an eloquent observation of the Libs
JudgeMental said:
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
I can’t burn anything from October to end of March.
Divine Angel said:
JudgeMental said:
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
an eloquent observation of the Libs
Heh.
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
I can’t burn anything from October to end of March.
neither can we. the stuff is green anyway so a couple of moths in the sun and it’ll be ready after the first good lot of winter rains.
JudgeMental said:
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
I guess that should have been chat.
JudgeMental said:
JudgeMental said:
another cab chassis load of prunings to the burn pile.
I guess that should have been chat.
But we got some fun out of it.
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
I wouldn’t worry too much.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
I wouldn’t worry too much.
The other thing to worry about: there’s some talk in the US of Kristi Noem being put up as a candidate for the US Presidency.
Trump is a problem because he’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and demented.
Noem is problem because she’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and just monumentally stupid and very easily manipulated.
Martin Bella
OPEN LETTER TO ANGUS TAYLOR.
( A Frackers, Bella, and the Gherkin collaboration)
PLEASE SHARE……
Dear Angus,
Firstly can we say, “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”. Now down to the matter at hand.
We have always believed that good governments were made great, by a healthy, strong, and vibrant Opposition…. Err Alternative.
The absolute debacle we have witnessed over the past few months has given a window for the worst of politics to crawl through.
We understand that one’s past does not always define one, thus we were willing, in fact enthusiastic, to see you step up, and show the sort of leadership we currently need.
We expected to hear a vision for the future, a unifying vision, and a path to achieve that destination.
You had a moment to bring the country back to balance, to lower the temperature, and anchor debate in fact and common sense – decency if you will.
Instead you tilted to the extreme.
The decent, pragmatic middle, the sensible centre, has not gone anywhere. We are here, we are watching. We want leadership that steadies our country, rejects division as a political tool, and that understands that true strength lies in the calming of the storm, not feeding it.
Yours was the opportunity to stand firm and upright like the lighthouse in the maelstrom, offering guidance, stability, a beacon in times of unrest, offering safety for all.
Your lurch to the right raises an important question: Does your foray into that space cool the debate, or does it reinforce the very divisive narratives that sensible Australians are trying to move beyond?
This narrative segregates, isolates and destroys us as a unified people.
Again, you reinforce the fallacy that migrants are the problem, despite the data showing this is not the case, in every metric.
Your call to only allow entry to those whom share our “core values” was disturbing in so many ways. Surely if that is your position, you should have outlined those values.
We would ask to be enlightened on what they are, how many there are, who do these values represent- as I can assure you that every religious group, age demographic, ethnic group, member of the local bowling club, would differ significantly.
Supposing you finally manage to express and document these values, if a migrant agrees with 5 of 6, are they denied entry? How do you decide the importance of each value with regard to the others? More importantly, WHO decides?
A previous criminal record, such as is already a reason for refusal, is a factual and objective measure. How does one assess and evaluate a potential Australian as to their commitment to something that can best be described as amorphous and vague?
A case in point is the right of an Australian to protest. In asking a potential migrant whether they support it, do we ask if they support it in its absolute form, OR, if they support it -except for when the government of the day decides they do not particularly like it?
We have many, many other questions and we cannot hide our disappointment, however we do have one last question.
If you DO manage to document these Core Values, and they are enough to preclude a migrant entry, What do we do with home grown Australians that exhibit no commitment, or indeed fail to adhere to these much vaunted Core Values?Anyway, that is quite enough for one letter. We dare say we will be communicating on many many occasions in the future. Can we say in closing, Fantastic. Well done. Great move Angus.
Have a lovely day,
Frackers, Bella, and the Gherkin
JudgeMental said:
Martin BellaOPEN LETTER TO ANGUS TAYLOR.
( A Frackers, Bella, and the Gherkin collaboration)
PLEASE SHARE……
Dear Angus,
Firstly can we say, “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”. Now down to the matter at hand.
We have always believed that good governments were made great, by a healthy, strong, and vibrant Opposition…. Err Alternative.
The absolute debacle we have witnessed over the past few months has given a window for the worst of politics to crawl through.
We understand that one’s past does not always define one, thus we were willing, in fact enthusiastic, to see you step up, and show the sort of leadership we currently need.
We expected to hear a vision for the future, a unifying vision, and a path to achieve that destination.
You had a moment to bring the country back to balance, to lower the temperature, and anchor debate in fact and common sense – decency if you will.
Instead you tilted to the extreme.
The decent, pragmatic middle, the sensible centre, has not gone anywhere. We are here, we are watching. We want leadership that steadies our country, rejects division as a political tool, and that understands that true strength lies in the calming of the storm, not feeding it.
Yours was the opportunity to stand firm and upright like the lighthouse in the maelstrom, offering guidance, stability, a beacon in times of unrest, offering safety for all.
Your lurch to the right raises an important question: Does your foray into that space cool the debate, or does it reinforce the very divisive narratives that sensible Australians are trying to move beyond?
This narrative segregates, isolates and destroys us as a unified people.
Again, you reinforce the fallacy that migrants are the problem, despite the data showing this is not the case, in every metric.
Your call to only allow entry to those whom share our “core values” was disturbing in so many ways. Surely if that is your position, you should have outlined those values.
We would ask to be enlightened on what they are, how many there are, who do these values represent- as I can assure you that every religious group, age demographic, ethnic group, member of the local bowling club, would differ significantly.
Supposing you finally manage to express and document these values, if a migrant agrees with 5 of 6, are they denied entry? How do you decide the importance of each value with regard to the others? More importantly, WHO decides?
A previous criminal record, such as is already a reason for refusal, is a factual and objective measure. How does one assess and evaluate a potential Australian as to their commitment to something that can best be described as amorphous and vague?A case in point is the right of an Australian to protest. In asking a potential migrant whether they support it, do we ask if they support it in its absolute form, OR, if they support it -except for when the government of the day decides they do not particularly like it?
We have many, many other questions and we cannot hide our disappointment, however we do have one last question.
If you DO manage to document these Core Values, and they are enough to preclude a migrant entry, What do we do with home grown Australians that exhibit no commitment, or indeed fail to adhere to these much vaunted Core Values?Anyway, that is quite enough for one letter. We dare say we will be communicating on many many occasions in the future. Can we say in closing, Fantastic. Well done. Great move Angus.
Have a lovely day,
Frackers, Bella, and the Gherkin
:)
JudgeMental said:
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Actually, it is conventional rather than a constitutional requirement that the Prime Minister be a member of the House of Representatives. However, only one senator, John Gorton, has become Prime Minister. On 9 January 1968, Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Prime Minister. But he resigned his Senate seat on 1 February 1968 and won a by-election for the House of Representatives on 24 February 1968.
KJW said:
JudgeMental said:
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Actually, it is conventional rather than a constitutional requirement that the Prime Minister be a member of the House of Representatives. However, only one senator, John Gorton, has become Prime Minister. On 9 January 1968, Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Prime Minister. But he resigned his Senate seat on 1 February 1968 and won a by-election for the House of Representatives on 24 February 1968.
yeah, I know. still highly unlikely to happen.
KJW said:
JudgeMental said:
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Actually, it is conventional rather than a constitutional requirement that the Prime Minister be a member of the House of Representatives. However, only one senator, John Gorton, has become Prime Minister. On 9 January 1968, Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Prime Minister. But he resigned his Senate seat on 1 February 1968 and won a by-election for the House of Representatives on 24 February 1968.
Someone rolled over for him?
Tau.Neutrino said:
KJW said:
JudgeMental said:
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Actually, it is conventional rather than a constitutional requirement that the Prime Minister be a member of the House of Representatives. However, only one senator, John Gorton, has become Prime Minister. On 9 January 1968, Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Prime Minister. But he resigned his Senate seat on 1 February 1968 and won a by-election for the House of Representatives on 24 February 1968.
Someone rolled over for him?
No.
He stood for Harold Holt’s seat, which Holt had unexpectedly vacated.
Tau.Neutrino said:
KJW said:
JudgeMental said:
Even if ON win a majority in the lower house she won’t be PM unless she vacates her senate seat and stands for lower house seat.
Actually, it is conventional rather than a constitutional requirement that the Prime Minister be a member of the House of Representatives. However, only one senator, John Gorton, has become Prime Minister. On 9 January 1968, Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Prime Minister. But he resigned his Senate seat on 1 February 1968 and won a by-election for the House of Representatives on 24 February 1968.
Someone rolled over for him?
Harold Holt’s seat was declared vacant.
Pauline Hanson would make a horrible PM.
Worse than Covid.
captain_spalding said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
KJW said:Actually, it is conventional rather than a constitutional requirement that the Prime Minister be a member of the House of Representatives. However, only one senator, John Gorton, has become Prime Minister. On 9 January 1968, Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Prime Minister. But he resigned his Senate seat on 1 February 1968 and won a by-election for the House of Representatives on 24 February 1968.
Someone rolled over for him?
No.
He stood for Harold Holt’s seat, which Holt had unexpectedly vacated.
Ah! Someone vacated for him.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Pauline Hanson would make a horrible PM.Worse than Covid.
But, if the election is a close-run thing, it would be entertaining to see PH having to try to woo Liberals, or ALP, or the Greens, to get the numbers to ensure that her ‘policies’ can be enacted.
Tau.Neutrino said:
captain_spalding said:
Tau.Neutrino said:Someone rolled over for him?
No.
He stood for Harold Holt’s seat, which Holt had unexpectedly vacated.
Ah! Someone vacated for him.
Or rather, disappeared into the ocean, never to be seen again.
Tau.Neutrino said:
captain_spalding said:
Tau.Neutrino said:Someone rolled over for him?
No.
He stood for Harold Holt’s seat, which Holt had unexpectedly vacated.
Ah! Someone vacated for him.
Yes. Harold became the Member for the seat of Davyjones.
JudgeMental said:
one last question.
If you DO manage to document these Core Values, and they are enough to preclude a migrant entry, What do we do with home grown Australians that exhibit no commitment, or indeed fail to adhere to these much vaunted Core Values?Anyway, that is quite enough
yes we’re corn
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
I’m beginning to start worrying that our next Prime Minister could be Pauline Burka Hanson.
I wouldn’t worry too much.
The other thing to worry about: there’s some talk in the US of Kristi Noem being put up as a candidate for the US Presidency.
Trump is a problem because he’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and demented.
Noem is problem because she’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and just monumentally stupid and very easily manipulated.
That’s their worry.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:I wouldn’t worry too much.
The other thing to worry about: there’s some talk in the US of Kristi Noem being put up as a candidate for the US Presidency.
Trump is a problem because he’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and demented.
Noem is problem because she’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and just monumentally stupid and very easily manipulated.
That’s their worry.
AOC
Constitutional Clarion addresses the …
https://youtu.be/lXJLv4978Iw?si=RVu_fdJpSyOtXZRA
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:I wouldn’t worry too much.
The other thing to worry about: there’s some talk in the US of Kristi Noem being put up as a candidate for the US Presidency.
Trump is a problem because he’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and demented.
Noem is problem because she’s narcissistic, greedy, amoral, and just monumentally stupid and very easily manipulated.
That’s their worry.
She sounds a bit overqualified :/
dv said:
to quote another forumite
praise the lord.
dv said:
How does that cretin still get a paid gig spewing forth propaganda?
JudgeMental said:
dv said:
to quote another forumite
praise the lord.
I think she’s still hoping that she can back get her old job in Canberra.
She has a revenge list that she’s been nursing for quite a while now.
part of me hope ON gets into government, either state or federal, just to see what happens when they actually have to have policies.
Sounding a bit like Trump.
roughbarked said:
Sounding a bit like Trump.
pretty sure most countries have specific people banned
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Sounding a bit like Trump.
pretty sure most countries have specific people banned
Known Criminals yes.
Foreign citizens?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Sounding a bit like Trump.
pretty sure most countries have specific people banned
Known Criminals yes.
Foreign citizens?
many known criminals are foreign citizens
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:pretty sure most countries have specific people banned
Known Criminals yes.
Foreign citizens?
many known criminals are foreign citizens
‘twould be good if we could make our known criminals, foreign citizens.
“Angus Taylor promised ‘change or die’, and instead he’s delivered a strongly worded letter,” Mr Chalmers told reporters on Monday.
“This just shows how bereft the Liberal Party is of economic credibility.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/coalition-proposes-bipartisan-budget-taskforce/106348078
Methinks it is up to Mr Chalmers to deliver a fiscally responsible budget. He should ignore the shilly shally from the disorganised rabble.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Known Criminals yes.
Foreign citizens?
many known criminals are foreign citizens
‘twould be good if we could make our known criminals, foreign citizens.
That’s Australia For Yous ¡
wait
I’m not advocating for … anything … but this did make me laugh
dv said:
I’m not advocating for … anything … but this did make me laugh
ahead of his time
oh
hey want to know something else about countries that build things quickly and efficiently, and something else else about other countries promising sinking ships for high sunk costs
wait
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
I’m not advocating for … anything … but this did make me laugh
ahead of his time
Nay. The phrase goes back well before he was born
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
I’m not advocating for … anything … but this did make me laugh
ahead of his time
Nay. The phrase goes back well before he was born
https://youtu.be/yWNb8UMooiEU?t=71
he was literally born 9 months after the country
make of that what yous will
The Two Strong State Solution
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
ahead of his time
Nay. The phrase goes back well before he was born
https://youtu.be/yWNb8UMooiEU?t=71
he was literally born 9 months after the country
make of that what yous will
Had never known his birthdate until now. Always thought he was younger somehow.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
Nay. The phrase goes back well before he was born
https://youtu.be/yWNb8UMooiEU?t=71
he was literally born 9 months after the country
make of that what yous will
Had never known his birthdate until now. Always thought he was younger somehow.
Interesting in that video, the sign MIAMI ICE.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/liberal-party-right-wing-division-realignment-four-corners/106331358
Andrew Hastie must be practicing his shit eater grin
Cymek said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/liberal-party-right-wing-division-realignment-four-corners/106331358Andrew Hastie must be practicing his shit eater grin
Andrew Hastie “My plan to kill the Jedi is progressing nicely”
Bad news for Labor in the Victorian state polling. DemosAU poll has it as 53-47 in the Coalition’s favour.
Clive’s up to his old tricks: Herald Sun front page today. I thought he might have run a full page ad opposite Andrew Bolt as well but alas…
Witty Rejoinder said:
Clive’s up to his old tricks: Herald Sun front page today. I thought he might have run a full page ad opposite Andrew Bolt as well but alas…
Fat Clive could, butt.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Clive’s up to his old tricks: Herald Sun front page today. I thought he might have run a full page ad opposite Andrew Bolt as well but alas…
Fat Clive could, butt.
apparently they’ll still win Victoria so there’s that
Witty Rejoinder said:
Clive’s up to his old tricks: Herald Sun front page today. I thought he might have run a full page ad opposite Andrew Bolt as well but alas…
I like that he uses yellow so I know to avoid reading his ads.
Divine Angel said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Clive’s up to his old tricks: Herald Sun front page today. I thought he might have run a full page ad opposite Andrew Bolt as well but alas…
I like that he uses yellow so I know to avoid reading his ads.
I think the official name is ‘Pissant Yellow’.
If you haven’t seen this Mad As Hell skit from 2022 about An*us Taylor.. it’s well worth a watch.
A portent of things to come?
Spiny Norman said:
If you haven’t seen this Mad As Hell skit from 2022 about An*us Taylor.. it’s well worth a watch.A portent of things to come?
I’ve watched it twice now. Helps me understand who he is. I’ve been so out of touch with Australian politics.
>>Australian women and children with links to ISIS forced to head back to camp in Syria
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/australian-families-with-isis-links-leave-camp-in-syria/106351298
If this was being done by a Liberal government the outrage in here would be deafening.
Peak Warming Man said:
>>Australian women and children with links to ISIS forced to head back to camp in Syria
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/australian-families-with-isis-links-leave-camp-in-syria/106351298If this was being done by a Liberal government the outrage in here would be deafening.
Outrage from whom?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Peak Warming Man said:
>>Australian women and children with links to ISIS forced to head back to camp in Syria
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/australian-families-with-isis-links-leave-camp-in-syria/106351298If this was being done by a Liberal government the outrage in here would be deafening.
Outrage from whom?
from their One Nation faction demanding to know why they aren’t rejecting everyone who has links to any implementation of Islam whatsoever
oh look now the wokists are blaming poor innocent kkk for the antiantifascists gaining ground
Just had an e-mail from Avaaz saying we should give full support to Albanese.
Francesca, not Tony.One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has questioned the existence of “good Muslims” in an extraordinary rant on Sky News.
Hanson, whose party is experiencing an extraordinary surge in opinion polls, spoke with host Sharri Markson and delivered a spray that was later walked back by Markson herself.
“They hate Westerners,” Hanson said, “That’s what it’s all about. You say there’s great Muslims out there, well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
Markson attempted to immediately clarify Hanson’s comments before later stating that “as an Australian Jew, I don’t support what (she) just said.”
Hanson has this morning doubled down on her comments, claiming on social media that “I guess they aren’t used to hearing a politician tell the truth.”
Divine Angel said:
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has questioned the existence of “good Muslims” in an extraordinary rant on Sky News.Hanson, whose party is experiencing an extraordinary surge in opinion polls, spoke with host Sharri Markson and delivered a spray that was later walked back by Markson herself.
“They hate Westerners,” Hanson said, “That’s what it’s all about. You say there’s great Muslims out there, well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
Markson attempted to immediately clarify Hanson’s comments before later stating that “as an Australian Jew, I don’t support what (she) just said.”
Hanson has this morning doubled down on her comments, claiming on social media that “I guess they aren’t used to hearing a politician tell the truth.”
Learning from Trump.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has questioned the existence of “good Muslims” in an extraordinary rant on Sky News.Hanson, whose party is experiencing an extraordinary surge in opinion polls, spoke with host Sharri Markson and delivered a spray that was later walked back by Markson herself.
“They hate Westerners,” Hanson said, “That’s what it’s all about. You say there’s great Muslims out there, well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
Markson attempted to immediately clarify Hanson’s comments before later stating that “as an Australian Jew, I don’t support what (she) just said.”
Hanson has this morning doubled down on her comments, claiming on social media that “I guess they aren’t used to hearing a politician tell the truth.”
Learning from Trump.
nobody could have foreseen that fascists foreign interfere and boost other fascists
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has questioned the existence of “good Muslims” in an extraordinary rant on Sky News.Hanson, whose party is experiencing an extraordinary surge in opinion polls, spoke with host Sharri Markson and delivered a spray that was later walked back by Markson herself.
“They hate Westerners,” Hanson said, “That’s what it’s all about. You say there’s great Muslims out there, well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
Markson attempted to immediately clarify Hanson’s comments before later stating that “as an Australian Jew, I don’t support what (she) just said.”
Hanson has this morning doubled down on her comments, claiming on social media that “I guess they aren’t used to hearing a politician tell the truth.”
Learning from Trump.
nobody could have foreseen that fascists foreign interfere and boost other fascists
Pray she doesn’t become the leader of the SS and strut around in bondage gear with a riding crop barking out orders
this is all CHINA and all them there no good Muslims’ fault
There’s certainly no such thing as a good Pauline Hanson.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:Learning from Trump.
nobody could have foreseen that fascists foreign interfere and boost other fascists
Pray she doesn’t become the leader of the SS and strut around in bondage gear with a riding crop barking out orders
That’d get Caleb Bond’s bottom lip wobbling
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:Learning from Trump.
nobody could have foreseen that fascists foreign interfere and boost other fascists
Pray she doesn’t become the leader of the SS and strut around in bondage gear with a riding crop barking out orders
are we the bad guys?
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:Learning from Trump.
nobody could have foreseen that fascists foreign interfere and boost other fascists
Pray she doesn’t become the leader of the SS and strut around in bondage gear with a riding crop barking out orders
Steady lad, steady.
JudgeMental said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
nobody could have foreseen that fascists foreign interfere and boost other fascists
Pray she doesn’t become the leader of the SS and strut around in bondage gear with a riding crop barking out orders
are we the bad guys?
well at least they didn’t deny the Holocaust but it’s all right to be allies with the RONan deniers
SCIENCE said:
this is all CHINA and all them there no good Muslims’ fault
That’s what the Great Wall of China is for, to keep the Muslim rabbits out.
alleged
SCIENCE said:
alleged
She is a household name in this household. Mr buffy’s mother knew her.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-17/invasion-day-alleged-terror-act-liam-alexander-hall/106353674
Interesting about his psychiatric condition
His lawyer could ask for fitness to plea / stand trial assessment
that’s great and all but given the above above perhaps we’re overdue for a revision of current mental health practices decounterantiunirregardless
(above above repeated below)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-17/nsw-one-dead-two-critical-merrylands-stabbing/106353068
From Michael West.
ASIC searches show Angus Taylor was a director and secretary of Eastern Australia Agriculture. Last yr profit $28m. No tax. Sale of water licences $52m. Parent is Eastern Australia Irrigation (Cayman Isles) which appears to have received $14m in interest payments.
AUSTRALIA IGNORING MORAL RED LINES WITH UNREGULATED AI WARFARE.
With Australia failing to acknowledge the humanitarian risks of weaponising AI, the Australian government seems unwilling to place any limits on devastating autonomous weapons.
Australia appears to be moving head first into unregulated AI warfare and this shocking possibility almost never makes the mainstream media.
In the last decade, there’s been a massive acceleration in the militarisation of artificial intelligence (AI). Addressing the United Nations (UN) Security Council in late September, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated that, “decisions of life and death must never be delegated to machines, and together we must set the rules and establish the norms.”
The advancement of AI in weapons is occurring across all areas, autonomous-piloted aircraft, drones, submarines, robot tanks and guns. This has raised ethical, legal and humanitarian concerns, discussed by governments, industry, experts and civil society yet remain to be addressed fully at the international nor domestic level.
Minister Wong’s remarks echo sentiment from a growing number of countries, UN officials, experts and the public in relation to autonomous weapons. The UN Secretary General has repeatedly called lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) ‘politically unacceptable and morally repugnant.’
However, highly militarised countries are pushing forward with advancement, in particular China, India, Israel, Russia and the US.
Increasing autonomy in weapons risks the erosion of human decision making as well as security and humanitarian risks, issues that these countries and much of the mainstream debate is ignoring.
Removing humans from critical functions, in particular choosing who or what and if and when to attack, facilitates intensified humanitarian harm in conflict. Furthermore, with escalation, increased speed and scale, and the exacerbation of discrimination with racial, gender and other bias, there’s a major risk if autonomous weapons are used against humans.
This is why specific prohibitions and obligations are being called for in relation to autonomous weapons.
Australia has made huge investments in autonomy for defence, and yet there is barely any public or political debate. The Albanese government is resisting new legal regulations.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-17/invasion-day-alleged-terror-act-liam-alexander-hall/106353674
Interesting about his psychiatric condition
His lawyer could ask for fitness to plea / stand trial assessment
that’s great and all but given the above above perhaps we’re overdue for a revision of current mental health practices decounterantiunirregardless
(above above repeated below)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-17/nsw-one-dead-two-critical-merrylands-stabbing/106353068
mental health hey it’ll be all good
No charges have been laid over the incident.
yous were right, the UN are woker than a left wing Labor lunatic
SCIENCE said:
yous were right, the UN are woker than a left wing Labor lunatic
`They are already harmed and radicalised. One child held up the severed head of a victim IIRC.
They’ve been kept in camps of radicalised people.
Why would bringing them to Australia change any of that?
They’ll be joined into the existing groups that ISIS is spawned from.
The real danger is that they’ll increase the pool of radicalisation that already exists here.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
yous were right, the UN are woker than a left wing Labor lunatic
`They are already harmed and radicalised. One child held up the severed head of a victim IIRC.
They’ve been kept in camps of radicalised people.
Why would bringing them to Australia change any of that?
They’ll be joined into the existing groups that ISIS is spawned from.
The real danger is that they’ll increase the pool of radicalisation that already exists here.
children are blameless and innocent and should be given a local chance to prove their criminality before they are treated as criminals
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
yous were right, the UN are woker than a left wing Labor lunatic
`They are already harmed and radicalised. One child held up the severed head of a victim IIRC.
They’ve been kept in camps of radicalised people.
Why would bringing them to Australia change any of that?
They’ll be joined into the existing groups that ISIS is spawned from.
The real danger is that they’ll increase the pool of radicalisation that already exists here.
children are blameless and innocent and should be given a local chance to prove their criminality before they are treated as criminals
Like none of ius have a choice where we are born and as such determines much of our circumstance. Which in turn is usually what becomes us.
good news, having a choice is the beating heart of democracy and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/one-nation-farrer-federal-by-election/106354342
fresh players are breathing the life back into these team sports
SCIENCE said:
good news, having a choice is the beating heart of democracy and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/one-nation-farrer-federal-by-election/106354342
fresh players are breathing the life back into these team sports
Just so we can go back around and around in the same circles as before. Avoiding change as long as we possibly can.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:good news, having a choice is the beating heart of democracy and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/one-nation-farrer-federal-by-election/106354342
fresh players are breathing the life back into these team sports
Just so we can go back around and around in the same circles as before. Avoiding change as long as we possibly can.
pretty sure it’s a spiral being dragged to the right by foreign interference but not solely because of that
SCIENCE said:
good news, having a choice is the beating heart of democracy and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/one-nation-farrer-federal-by-election/106354342
fresh players are breathing the life back into these team sports
Does that mean not having a choice is the beating heart of autocracy? You’ve changed man…
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
good news, having a choice is the beating heart of democracy and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/one-nation-farrer-federal-by-election/106354342
fresh players are breathing the life back into these team sports
Does that mean not having a choice is the beating heart of autocracy? You’ve changed man…
nah bro’ ‘u’r’ right this illusion of choice within a team sports popularity competition is actually even more important for autocracy, so that the actual money and power running the place can avert the unrest so threatening to their totally fairly gotten position at the top of society
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
good news, having a choice is the beating heart of democracy and
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-18/one-nation-farrer-federal-by-election/106354342
fresh players are breathing the life back into these team sports
Does that mean not having a choice is the beating heart of autocracy? You’ve changed man…
nah bro’ ‘u’r’ right this illusion of choice within a team sports popularity competition is actually even more important for autocracy, so that the actual money and power running the place can avert the unrest so threatening to their totally fairly gotten position at the top of society
You seem to be disregarding how important competition is in a meritocracy.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Does that mean not having a choice is the beating heart of autocracy? You’ve changed man…
nah bro’ ‘u’r’ right this illusion of choice within a team sports popularity competition is actually even more important for autocracy, so that the actual money and power running the place can avert the unrest so threatening to their totally fairly gotten position at the top of society
You seem to be disregarding how important competition is in a meritocracy.
nah our experience of being the best by merit has taught us that competing with others only gets you to the top, to go further you have to complete with your own even higher standards
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
nah bro’ ‘u’r’ right this illusion of choice within a team sports popularity competition is actually even more important for autocracy, so that the actual money and power running the place can avert the unrest so threatening to their totally fairly gotten position at the top of society
You seem to be disregarding how important competition is in a meritocracy.
nah our experience of being the best by merit has taught us that competing with others only gets you to the top, to go further you have to complete with your own even higher standards
You must live in a very small pond.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:Witty Rejoinder said:
You seem to be disregarding how important competition is in a meritocracy.
nah our experience of being the best by merit has taught us that competing with others only gets you to the top, to go further you have to complete with your own even higher standards
You must live in a very small pond.
He’s a big frog in a little puddle. Sliim had words on that subject.
roughbarked said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
nah our experience of being the best by merit has taught us that competing with others only gets you to the top, to go further you have to complete with your own even higher standards
You must live in a very small pond.
He’s a big frog in a little puddle. Sliim had words on that subject.
BigPond
but we mean you’re right the upper surface of even an extremely large pond is a relatively small area
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
You must live in a very small pond.
He’s a big frog in a little puddle. Sliim had words on that subject.
BigPond
but we mean you’re right the upper surface of even an extremely large pond is a relatively small area
we are the small axe you are the big tree.
JudgeMental said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
He’s a big frog in a little puddle. Sliim had words on that subject.
BigPond
but we mean you’re right the upper surface of even an extremely large pond is a relatively small area
we are the small axe you are the big tree.
is that a veiled reference to that great Australian classic, the tall opiumflower syndrome
Michael Costa is not impressed with Jim lad.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/chalmers-ratty-under-pressure-as-ex-rba-boss-warns-spending-fuelling-inflation/ar-AA1Wzz4u?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=6995978dd27b4067bd3cee7bf925dc92&ei=24
https://theconversation.com/is-federal-government-spending-really-to-blame-for-higher-inflation-its-not-clear-cut-274961
JudgeMental said:
https://theconversation.com/is-federal-government-spending-really-to-blame-for-higher-inflation-its-not-clear-cut-274961
pretty sure they wrote basically the same article in 2022 in response to basically the same bullshit artistry
getting tough on that rhetoric
Speaking to ABC Radio Sydney, he says the mothers of the children in Syria have put them in a position. “We follow the law and we follow the advice of the authorities. The government is providing no support for the repatriation of these people or any support whatsoever,” Albanese says. “I have nothing but contempt for these people.”
SCIENCE said:
getting tough on that rhetoric
Speaking to ABC Radio Sydney, he says the mothers of the children in Syria have put them in a position. “We follow the law and we follow the advice of the authorities. The government is providing no support for the repatriation of these people or any support whatsoever,” Albanese says. “I have nothing but contempt for these people.”
Well, he’s not wrong, is he?
Anyone connected with ISIS is contemptible.
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:getting tough on that rhetoric
Speaking to ABC Radio Sydney, he says the mothers of the children in Syria have put them in a position. “We follow the law and we follow the advice of the authorities. The government is providing no support for the repatriation of these people or any support whatsoever,” Albanese says. “I have nothing but contempt for these people.”
Well, he’s not wrong, is he?
Anyone connected with ISIS is contemptible.
I tend to think we’d be safer bringing them back, separating the women from each other, and getting the community to help them. And getting the children used to a different “normal”.
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:getting tough on that rhetoric
Speaking to ABC Radio Sydney, he says the mothers of the children in Syria have put them in a position. “We follow the law and we follow the advice of the authorities. The government is providing no support for the repatriation of these people or any support whatsoever,” Albanese says. “I have nothing but contempt for these people.”
Well, he’s not wrong, is he?
Anyone connected with ISIS is contemptible.
I wonder what would possess you to willingly become a bride, besides actual possession
buffy said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:getting tough on that rhetoric
Speaking to ABC Radio Sydney, he says the mothers of the children in Syria have put them in a position. “We follow the law and we follow the advice of the authorities. The government is providing no support for the repatriation of these people or any support whatsoever,” Albanese says. “I have nothing but contempt for these people.”
Well, he’s not wrong, is he?
Anyone connected with ISIS is contemptible.
I tend to think we’d be safer bringing them back, separating the women from each other, and getting the community to help them. And getting the children used to a different “normal”.
That sounds like a good programme.
But, would it be allowed to operate, as it’s bound to raise objections as to infringing their social, religious, and cultural freedoms?
More likely, they’d be free to choose to go back into whatever cultural and religious associations created the atmosphere in which they (the men, most probably) could be persuaded to go and support such an evil organisation.
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:
captain_spalding said:Well, he’s not wrong, is he?
Anyone connected with ISIS is contemptible.
I tend to think we’d be safer bringing them back, separating the women from each other, and getting the community to help them. And getting the children used to a different “normal”.
That sounds like a good programme.
But, would it be allowed to operate, as it’s bound to raise objections as to infringing their social, religious, and cultural freedoms?
More likely, they’d be free to choose to go back into whatever cultural and religious associations created the atmosphere in which they (the men, most probably) could be persuaded to go and support such an evil organisation.
I think the community is fairly keen on them not bringing such ideas with them. If they live in the community (which I suspect is a bit different here now than it was in 2019), there is no infringement of freedoms.
buffy said:
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:I tend to think we’d be safer bringing them back, separating the women from each other, and getting the community to help them. And getting the children used to a different “normal”.
That sounds like a good programme.
But, would it be allowed to operate, as it’s bound to raise objections as to infringing their social, religious, and cultural freedoms?
More likely, they’d be free to choose to go back into whatever cultural and religious associations created the atmosphere in which they (the men, most probably) could be persuaded to go and support such an evil organisation.
I think the community is fairly keen on them not bringing such ideas with them. If they live in the community (which I suspect is a bit different here now than it was in 2019), there is no infringement of freedoms.
Yeah. Maybe.
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:
captain_spalding said:
That sounds like a good programme.
But, would it be allowed to operate, as it’s bound to raise objections as to infringing their social, religious, and cultural freedoms?
More likely, they’d be free to choose to go back into whatever cultural and religious associations created the atmosphere in which they (the men, most probably) could be persuaded to go and support such an evil organisation.
I think the community is fairly keen on them not bringing such ideas with them. If they live in the community (which I suspect is a bit different here now than it was in 2019), there is no infringement of freedoms.
Yeah. Maybe.
wait how do the community ensure they don’t bring bad ideas with them
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:
I think the community is fairly keen on them not bringing such ideas with them. If they live in the community (which I suspect is a bit different here now than it was in 2019), there is no infringement of freedoms.
Yeah. Maybe.
wait how do the community ensure they don’t bring bad ideas with them
Oh, they will probably bring bad ideas with them. They need to be called out. And that needs to be done within the community.
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Yeah. Maybe.
wait how do the community ensure they don’t bring bad ideas with them
Oh, they will probably bring bad ideas with them. They need to be called out. And that needs to be done within the community.
before or after the bad ideas are implemented
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:captain_spalding said:
Yeah. Maybe.
wait how do the community ensure they don’t bring bad ideas with them
Oh, they will probably bring bad ideas with them. They need to be called out. And that needs to be done within the community.
ISIS brides – Love At First Sight The Tv Show
The five posters are by UK artist Blam from the group Grow Up Art and can be easily purchased online.
“It’s appalling that you call out fascism and no surprise the fascists try to shut it down,” the artist told the ABC.
“It’s clearly satirical it shows you how utterly ridiculous the police force are at missing the point wasting everyone’s time.
“Speaking out about the rise of fascism, racism, capitalism and genocide isn’t a hate crime.”
Capitalism!!……….our fathers had it all wrong and our fathers fathers and our fathers fathers fathers…………………
I can imagine them sitting around pulling on a bong with posters of Che Guevara and Mao on the wall, saying slogans like “down with capitalism” and “come the revolution” etc
wait oh sorry who was in charge for the 10 years leading up to it
Shadow Health Minister Sarah Mitchell said the state’s mental health system had not improved, even in the wake of several reviews, including the recent coronial findings into the 2024 Bondi Junction stabbing attack.
Peak Warming Man said:
The five posters are by UK artist Blam from the group Grow Up Art and can be easily purchased online.
“It’s appalling that you call out fascism and no surprise the fascists try to shut it down,” the artist told the ABC.
“It’s clearly satirical it shows you how utterly ridiculous the police force are at missing the point wasting everyone’s time.
“Speaking out about the rise of fascism, racism, capitalism and genocide isn’t a hate crime.”Capitalism!!……….our fathers had it all wrong and our fathers fathers and our fathers fathers fathers…………………
I can imagine them sitting around pulling on a bong with posters of Che Guevara and Mao on the wall, saying slogans like “down with capitalism” and “come the revolution” etc
so what we(0,1,0)’re saying is that if we(1,0,0) post the following here
fascists are using dog whistles like 1488 to spread hate
then the presence of certain terms in the quote mean that we(1,0,0)’re actually the ones who are going to get flagged for hate speech
A third threatening letter has been sent to Lakemba Mosque as worshippers prepared for the start of Ramadan. Two previous letters made death threats and resulted in a 70-year-old man has been charged by police over one incident. NSW Premier Chris Minns said it was important Ramadan can be observed in a “safe and secure way”. “This is an important and special time for Islamic Australians,” he said.
who needs these premiers going woke we need more good strong cisgender white women like the orange one
On Monday, Senator Pauline Hanson made remarks on Sky News suggesting there were no “good” Muslims, which Mr Kheir said “enabled” the latest threat to be made. She later issued a partial apology for the comments. Mr Minns conceded that “may well have” inflamed tensions. “We have to accept that words have consequences … you can put hate in someone’s heart with that kind of racist demagoguery,” he said.
wait did you say
words have consequences … you can put hate in someone’s heart
so is that hate speech
are there laws addressing that kind of thing
do they apply to angry cisgender white women who are orange
SCIENCE said:
A third threatening letter has been sent to Lakemba Mosque as worshippers prepared for the start of Ramadan. Two previous letters made death threats and resulted in a 70-year-old man has been charged by police over one incident. NSW Premier Chris Minns said it was important Ramadan can be observed in a “safe and secure way”. “This is an important and special time for Islamic Australians,” he said.
who needs these premiers going woke we need more good strong cisgender white women like the orange one
On Monday, Senator Pauline Hanson made remarks on Sky News suggesting there were no “good” Muslims, which Mr Kheir said “enabled” the latest threat to be made. She later issued a partial apology for the comments. Mr Minns conceded that “may well have” inflamed tensions. “We have to accept that words have consequences … you can put hate in someone’s heart with that kind of racist demagoguery,” he said.
wait did you say
words have consequences … you can put hate in someone’s heart
so is that hate speech
are there laws addressing that kind of thing
do they apply to angry cisgender white women who are orange
Facebook has strange idea of hate speech
Can use the n word all you like, can degrade anyone not white, can have political parties spouting racist tirades
Can’t say things about Israel (not Jews themselves) that are true
Will Angus Taylor look to his grandfather for guidance on immigration?
Tony Wright
February 19, 2026 — 11:50am
When Angus Taylor delivered his first speech to parliament in December 2013, he devoted part of it to the memory of Sir William Hudson.
Unsurprising, really. Hudson remains a giant of 20th century Australian history.
He was credited with building Australia’s single greatest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, of which he was commissioner and chief engineer from its inception in 1949 until 1967.
He was also Taylor’s grandfather.
“My grandfather, William Hudson, was, and remains, a pervasive role model in my life,” Taylor, the newly minted parliamentarian, told the House of Representatives.
“He conceived of the idea and insisted, against resistance, to bring in large numbers of refugees from war-torn Europe.
“He insisted that people from over 30 countries, who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War, live and work together in multi-ethnic camps.
“The Snowy scheme, quite literally, changed the face of our nation.”
These years later, Taylor is the new leader of a federal Coalition gasping for relevance as disaffected voters fall for the easy, right-wing populism of Pauline Hanson and her followers.
Taylor has flagged his priority is to take a hardline stance on immigration, including supporting measures to block or expel people “who hate our way of life”.
Sussan Ley left him to mull over an as-yet untried scheme to ban arrivals from certain troubled areas of the world, including countries in Africa and the Middle East, and, for pity’s sake, Gaza. Oh, and border control would have the Trumpist power to check the mobile phones of arrivals.
Precisely what cuts to Australia’s immigration numbers Taylor might deem suitable, or whether he might ban applicants from specific countries, is yet to be revealed.
More intriguingly, perhaps, is the open question of how Taylor might square his reverence for his grandfather’s life’s work with his determination to exploit a rise in anti-immigration sentiment for his and his party’s political survival.
Grandfather Bill Hudson’s Australia in 1949 was, of course, a different place to the nation we inhabit now.
World War II had shaken Australians’ belief in their nation’s security.
“Populate or perish” was the cry of a country of fewer than 8 million.
The vast majority of Australians – about 90 per cent – were of Anglo-Celtic heritage, and the White Australia Policy was an article of faith.
The Australian census of 1947 identified just 38,653 Australians as “foreign” (the census papers also declared all numbers were “exclusive of full-blood Aboriginals”).
Xenophobia, like institutionalised racism, ran deep.
When Ben Chifley’s Labor government first decided to broaden Australia’s intake of postwar immigrants to include Europeans in the cause of the “populate or perish” policy, immigration agents took ham-fisted care to assuage public unease about “foreigners”.
They carefully chose light-skinned, often blond, men and women, most of them from the Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
It worked: journalists witnessing the first immigrants travelling by train from Port Melbourne to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre near Albury-Wodonga enthusiastically called them “the beautiful Balts”.
Still, wharfies at Port Melbourne in late 1947 were reluctant to dock the first ship carrying these new arrivals, claiming they would “take Australian jobs”.
When Hudson was appointed in 1949 by the Chifley government to build the massive Snowy scheme – to divert water from the mountains to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and produce reliable hydroelectric power – he knew there were nowhere near enough Australians capable or willing to tackle the work.
He chose to upend Australia’s monoculture.
Hudson settled for the bulk of his workforce on the great pool of Europeans whose lives were shattered by World War II.
Displaced persons’ camps overflowed with refugees. Poverty and hopelessness had its grip on villages, smashed cities and ruined agricultural regions across the continent.
Many of the people Hudson and his people persuaded to take their chances in far-off Australia had also been at each other’s throats during the war, and sometimes long before.
Germany, having invaded Poland, waged war everywhere; Italians were drafted into Mussolini’s Fascist fever until they turned on him and killed him; Greece was occupied by Italians, Germans, Bulgarians and Hungarians; ancient hatreds divided Serbs and Croats. After the war, Stalin’s Soviet empire swallowed the countries of Eastern Europe, leading to a frantic exodus.
Hudson’s scheme employed people – almost all of them men – from 33 of these broken nations.
Few spoke English or even shared languages with their former European neighbours.
There could easily have been a backlash from everyday Australians and hysteria over importing enemy aliens that would make One Nation’s stance today look tame.
But Hudson had an ace up his sleeve.
He had the full support of Australia’s political leaders from both sides of the fence: Chifley initially, and the Liberals’ Bob Menzies through the 1950s and ’60s.
They lauded immigration and the Snowy scheme as nation-building, and a potentially sceptical public went along with it.
The likes of Pauline Hanson wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways.
Now, Hudson’s grandson has a choice.
He could choose to embrace a non-discriminatory immigration policy while promoting a perfectly legitimate and overdue debate about how many immigrants Australia should welcome.
He could temper the wilder fears promoted by cynical populists by pointing to nation-builders like rural doctors from the Middle East, aged care workers from Asia, technologists from the subcontinent and the army of recent arrivals who undertake unheralded and often unpleasant tasks in the cause of building a future for their kids.
Or he could buckle to those in his party who are terrified of the racists and xenophobes intent on exploiting the concerns of everyday Australians who are abandoning mainstream political parties because they feel leaders aren’t speaking to them any more.
And, of course, he could muse about what the pervasive role model of his life, grandfather Hudson, might have advised.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/will-angus-taylor-look-to-his-grandfather-for-guidance-on-immigration-20260218-p5o3bs.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
Will Angus Taylor look to his grandfather for guidance on immigration?
Unsurprising, really. Hudson remains a giant of 20th century Australian history. He was credited with building Australia’s single greatest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, of which he was commissioner and chief engineer from its inception in 1949 until 1967. “He insisted that people from over 30 countries, who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War, live and work together in multi-ethnic camps.
The vast majority of Australians – about 90 per cent – were of Anglo-Celtic heritage, and the White Australia Policy was an article of faith. When Ben Chifley’s Labor government first decided to broaden Australia’s intake of postwar immigrants to include Europeans in the cause of the “populate or perish” policy, immigration agents took ham-fisted care to assuage public unease about “foreigners”. They carefully chose light-skinned, often blond, men and women, most of them from the Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
When Hudson was appointed in 1949 by the Chifley government to build the massive Snowy scheme – to divert water from the mountains to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and produce reliable hydroelectric power – he knew there were nowhere near enough Australians capable or willing to tackle the work. He chose to upend Australia’s monoculture. Hudson settled for the bulk of his workforce on the great pool of Europeans whose lives were shattered by World War II.
He had the full support of Australia’s political leaders from both sides of the fence: Chifley initially, and the Liberals’ Bob Menzies through the 1950s and ’60s. They lauded immigration and the Snowy scheme as nation-building, and a potentially sceptical public went along with it. The likes of Pauline Hanson wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways.
sorry we don’t understand, where in that beautiful story about unreplaced masters does it say Australia needs dirty ASIANS and Africans and Aboriginals as opposed to good clean honest people like the orange ones
Thanks for posting that. It was interesting.
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Will Angus Taylor look to his grandfather for guidance on immigration?
Unsurprising, really. Hudson remains a giant of 20th century Australian history. He was credited with building Australia’s single greatest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, of which he was commissioner and chief engineer from its inception in 1949 until 1967. “He insisted that people from over 30 countries, who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War, live and work together in multi-ethnic camps.
The vast majority of Australians – about 90 per cent – were of Anglo-Celtic heritage, and the White Australia Policy was an article of faith. When Ben Chifley’s Labor government first decided to broaden Australia’s intake of postwar immigrants to include Europeans in the cause of the “populate or perish” policy, immigration agents took ham-fisted care to assuage public unease about “foreigners”. They carefully chose light-skinned, often blond, men and women, most of them from the Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
When Hudson was appointed in 1949 by the Chifley government to build the massive Snowy scheme – to divert water from the mountains to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and produce reliable hydroelectric power – he knew there were nowhere near enough Australians capable or willing to tackle the work. He chose to upend Australia’s monoculture. Hudson settled for the bulk of his workforce on the great pool of Europeans whose lives were shattered by World War II.
He had the full support of Australia’s political leaders from both sides of the fence: Chifley initially, and the Liberals’ Bob Menzies through the 1950s and ’60s. They lauded immigration and the Snowy scheme as nation-building, and a potentially sceptical public went along with it. The likes of Pauline Hanson wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways.
sorry we don’t understand, where in that beautiful story about unreplaced masters does it say Australia needs dirty ASIANS and Africans and Aboriginals as opposed to good clean honest people like the orange ones
So, if Angus chose to restrict immigration to those 33 countries only, that’d be alright?
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
A third threatening letter has been sent to Lakemba Mosque as worshippers prepared for the start of Ramadan. Two previous letters made death threats and resulted in a 70-year-old man has been charged by police over one incident. NSW Premier Chris Minns said it was important Ramadan can be observed in a “safe and secure way”. “This is an important and special time for Islamic Australians,” he said.
who needs these premiers going woke we need more good strong cisgender white women like the orange one
On Monday, Senator Pauline Hanson made remarks on Sky News suggesting there were no “good” Muslims, which Mr Kheir said “enabled” the latest threat to be made. She later issued a partial apology for the comments. Mr Minns conceded that “may well have” inflamed tensions. “We have to accept that words have consequences … you can put hate in someone’s heart with that kind of racist demagoguery,” he said.
wait did you say
words have consequences … you can put hate in someone’s heart
so is that hate speech
are there laws addressing that kind of thing
do they apply to angry cisgender white women who are orange
Facebook has strange idea of hate speech
Can use the n word all you like, can degrade anyone not white, can have political parties spouting racist tirades
Can’t say things about Israel (not Jews themselves) that are true
wait we thought the hate speech laws were there to address a problem
oh so they are weighed against the right to free speech are they
and the weighting depends on whether it’s a mouth on a black face that hatefully speaks or a mouth on a white face that freely speaks
ah that must be it
furious said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Will Angus Taylor look to his grandfather for guidance on immigration?
Unsurprising, really. Hudson remains a giant of 20th century Australian history. He was credited with building Australia’s single greatest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, of which he was commissioner and chief engineer from its inception in 1949 until 1967. “He insisted that people from over 30 countries, who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War, live and work together in multi-ethnic camps.
The vast majority of Australians – about 90 per cent – were of Anglo-Celtic heritage, and the White Australia Policy was an article of faith. When Ben Chifley’s Labor government first decided to broaden Australia’s intake of postwar immigrants to include Europeans in the cause of the “populate or perish” policy, immigration agents took ham-fisted care to assuage public unease about “foreigners”. They carefully chose light-skinned, often blond, men and women, most of them from the Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
When Hudson was appointed in 1949 by the Chifley government to build the massive Snowy scheme – to divert water from the mountains to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and produce reliable hydroelectric power – he knew there were nowhere near enough Australians capable or willing to tackle the work. He chose to upend Australia’s monoculture. Hudson settled for the bulk of his workforce on the great pool of Europeans whose lives were shattered by World War II.
He had the full support of Australia’s political leaders from both sides of the fence: Chifley initially, and the Liberals’ Bob Menzies through the 1950s and ’60s. They lauded immigration and the Snowy scheme as nation-building, and a potentially sceptical public went along with it. The likes of Pauline Hanson wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways.
sorry we don’t understand, where in that beautiful story about unreplaced masters does it say Australia needs dirty ASIANS and Africans and Aboriginals as opposed to good clean honest people like the orange ones
So, if Angus chose to restrict immigration to those 33 countries only, that’d be alright?
we think that’s the point, he’d be just as much of a hero as his grandfather
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Will Angus Taylor look to his grandfather for guidance on immigration?
Unsurprising, really. Hudson remains a giant of 20th century Australian history. He was credited with building Australia’s single greatest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, of which he was commissioner and chief engineer from its inception in 1949 until 1967. “He insisted that people from over 30 countries, who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War, live and work together in multi-ethnic camps.
The vast majority of Australians – about 90 per cent – were of Anglo-Celtic heritage, and the White Australia Policy was an article of faith. When Ben Chifley’s Labor government first decided to broaden Australia’s intake of postwar immigrants to include Europeans in the cause of the “populate or perish” policy, immigration agents took ham-fisted care to assuage public unease about “foreigners”. They carefully chose light-skinned, often blond, men and women, most of them from the Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
When Hudson was appointed in 1949 by the Chifley government to build the massive Snowy scheme – to divert water from the mountains to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and produce reliable hydroelectric power – he knew there were nowhere near enough Australians capable or willing to tackle the work. He chose to upend Australia’s monoculture. Hudson settled for the bulk of his workforce on the great pool of Europeans whose lives were shattered by World War II.
He had the full support of Australia’s political leaders from both sides of the fence: Chifley initially, and the Liberals’ Bob Menzies through the 1950s and ’60s. They lauded immigration and the Snowy scheme as nation-building, and a potentially sceptical public went along with it. The likes of Pauline Hanson wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways.
sorry we don’t understand, where in that beautiful story about unreplaced masters does it say Australia needs dirty ASIANS and Africans and Aboriginals as opposed to good clean honest people like the orange ones
Immigration into an Anglo-Celtic monoculture in the 1950s was more revolutionary than the situation now where Australia already has 30% of the population born overseas.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Will Angus Taylor look to his grandfather for guidance on immigration?
Unsurprising, really. Hudson remains a giant of 20th century Australian history. He was credited with building Australia’s single greatest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, of which he was commissioner and chief engineer from its inception in 1949 until 1967. “He insisted that people from over 30 countries, who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War, live and work together in multi-ethnic camps.
The vast majority of Australians – about 90 per cent – were of Anglo-Celtic heritage, and the White Australia Policy was an article of faith. When Ben Chifley’s Labor government first decided to broaden Australia’s intake of postwar immigrants to include Europeans in the cause of the “populate or perish” policy, immigration agents took ham-fisted care to assuage public unease about “foreigners”. They carefully chose light-skinned, often blond, men and women, most of them from the Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
When Hudson was appointed in 1949 by the Chifley government to build the massive Snowy scheme – to divert water from the mountains to irrigate the nation’s food bowl and produce reliable hydroelectric power – he knew there were nowhere near enough Australians capable or willing to tackle the work. He chose to upend Australia’s monoculture. Hudson settled for the bulk of his workforce on the great pool of Europeans whose lives were shattered by World War II.
He had the full support of Australia’s political leaders from both sides of the fence: Chifley initially, and the Liberals’ Bob Menzies through the 1950s and ’60s. They lauded immigration and the Snowy scheme as nation-building, and a potentially sceptical public went along with it. The likes of Pauline Hanson wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways.
sorry we don’t understand, where in that beautiful story about unreplaced masters does it say Australia needs dirty ASIANS and Africans and Aboriginals as opposed to good clean honest people like the orange ones
Immigration into an Anglo-Celtic monoculture in the 1950s was more revolutionary than the situation now where Australia already has 30% of the population born overseas.
also a valid perspective; despite our seeming harsh analysis let it be known that we are quite happy to have a mix of cultural wisdom in this country
proof that Corruption are the best of the best the most expert of the experts, and Dirty Communist Labor are terrible economic managers
there you see Corruption are skilled enough to bring the unemployment rate down when they’re in charge
and then boom in come Dirty Communist Labor and like magic unemployment climbs like there’s no tomorrow
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-19/unemployment-rate-australia-january-2026-steady/106362428
Michael V said:
Thanks for posting that. It was interesting.
ditto
they are the best economic managers and they are skilled at making up policy on the run
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, Wilson called for a rethink of the RBA’s twin goals, which are to keep inflation between 2-3 per cent and unemployment low. Wilson told the newspaper the RBA is “confused about what its core purpose is to do, and it should be to focus on reducing inflation”.
But in a statement to the ABC, the Goldstein MP appears to have had a change of heart. “I support the dual mandate. I support a review so the RBA gets it right because they’ve consistently failed at understanding the nature of inflation, and I don’t support Jim Chalmers continuing to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire,” Wilson says.
SCIENCE said:
they are the best economic managers and they are skilled at making up policy on the run
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, Wilson called for a rethink of the RBA’s twin goals, which are to keep inflation between 2-3 per cent and unemployment low. Wilson told the newspaper the RBA is “confused about what its core purpose is to do, and it should be to focus on reducing inflation”.
But in a statement to the ABC, the Goldstein MP appears to have had a change of heart. “I support the dual mandate. I support a review so the RBA gets it right because they’ve consistently failed at understanding the nature of inflation, and I don’t support Jim Chalmers continuing to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire,” Wilson says.
Clearly he knows everything about economics.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
they are the best economic managers and they are skilled at making up policy on the run
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday, Wilson called for a rethink of the RBA’s twin goals, which are to keep inflation between 2-3 per cent and unemployment low. Wilson told the newspaper the RBA is “confused about what its core purpose is to do, and it should be to focus on reducing inflation”.
But in a statement to the ABC, the Goldstein MP appears to have had a change of heart. “I support the dual mandate. I support a review so the RBA gets it right because they’ve consistently failed at understanding the nature of inflation, and I don’t support Jim Chalmers continuing to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire,” Wilson says.
Clearly he knows everything about economics.
He does, and it’s a different thing on different days¡
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.
Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00am
Yes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
Load of rubbish.
Reduced investment in rental properties will drive up rents, and reduce incentive for builders to build more, both of which will drive house prices further up, not down.
Immigrants are a significant part of the reason that rent prices are high. That doesn’t mean that immigration should necessarily be reduced, but it should be included in the discussion.
What’s needed:
1. More government investment in low cost rental properties (and increased taxes to pay for it).
2. Remove incentives to leave properties empty, or leave building blocks empty, so yes remove the reduction on CGT, but don’t even think about removing negative gearing for rental properties.
3. Increase development of areas outside the capital cities, and provide high speed public transport to these areas.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/20/pm-anthony-albanese-australia-republic-comments-former-prince-andrew-arrest-ntwnfb
Anthony Albanese has described Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest as an “extraordinary fall from grace” but says the latest crisis facing the British royal family won’t prompt another referendum on Australia becoming a republic.
***
We should become a Commonwealth Republic so we can still kick arse in the Comm Games, but not report to the monarch.
Divine Angel said:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/20/pm-anthony-albanese-australia-republic-comments-former-prince-andrew-arrest-ntwnfbAnthony Albanese has described Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest as an “extraordinary fall from grace” but says the latest crisis facing the British royal family won’t prompt another referendum on Australia becoming a republic.
***
We should become a Commonwealth Republic so we can still kick arse in the Comm Games, but not report to the monarch.
The Royals act like they should be living in a trailer park
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/20/pm-anthony-albanese-australia-republic-comments-former-prince-andrew-arrest-ntwnfbAnthony Albanese has described Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest as an “extraordinary fall from grace” but says the latest crisis facing the British royal family won’t prompt another referendum on Australia becoming a republic.
***
We should become a Commonwealth Republic so we can still kick arse in the Comm Games, but not report to the monarch.
The Royals act like they should be living in a trailer park
The Royals are out of place in a modern society.
Royalty, peerage, hegemony, oligarchs and dictators et al can all disappear, they are of no benefit to humanity.
The Rev Dodgson said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
Load of rubbish.
Reduced investment in rental properties will drive up rents, and reduce incentive for builders to build more, both of which will drive house prices further up, not down.
Immigrants are a significant part of the reason that rent prices are high. That doesn’t mean that immigration should necessarily be reduced, but it should be included in the discussion.
What’s needed:
1. More government investment in low cost rental properties (and increased taxes to pay for it).
2. Remove incentives to leave properties empty, or leave building blocks empty, so yes remove the reduction on CGT, but don’t even think about removing negative gearing for rental properties.
3. Increase development of areas outside the capital cities, and provide high speed public transport to these areas.
Abolishing negative gearing on existing properties will provide an incentive for investors to build more new properties which will help renters and owner occupiers.
Reducing the CGT discount will mean less demand for properties by investors freeing up supply for owner occupiers.
Increased revenue from these policy changes can be used to build more public housing.
Witty Rejoinder said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
Load of rubbish.
Reduced investment in rental properties will drive up rents, and reduce incentive for builders to build more, both of which will drive house prices further up, not down.
Immigrants are a significant part of the reason that rent prices are high. That doesn’t mean that immigration should necessarily be reduced, but it should be included in the discussion.
What’s needed:
1. More government investment in low cost rental properties (and increased taxes to pay for it).
2. Remove incentives to leave properties empty, or leave building blocks empty, so yes remove the reduction on CGT, but don’t even think about removing negative gearing for rental properties.
3. Increase development of areas outside the capital cities, and provide high speed public transport to these areas.
Abolishing negative gearing on existing properties will provide an incentive for investors to build more new properties which will help renters and owner occupiers.
Reducing the CGT discount will mean less demand for properties by investors freeing up supply for owner occupiers.
Increased revenue from these policy changes can be used to build more public housing.
Good news.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.
Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
Load of rubbish.
Reduced investment in rental properties will drive up rents, and reduce incentive for builders to build more, both of which will drive house prices further up, not down.
Immigrants are a significant part of the reason that rent prices are high. That doesn’t mean that immigration should necessarily be reduced, but it should be included in the discussion.
What’s needed:
1. More government investment in low cost rental properties (and increased taxes to pay for it).
2. Remove incentives to leave properties empty, or leave building blocks empty, so yes remove the reduction on CGT, but don’t even think about removing negative gearing for rental properties.
3. Increase development of areas outside the capital cities, and provide high speed public transport to these areas.
Abolishing negative gearing on existing properties will provide an incentive for investors to build more new properties which will help renters and owner occupiers.
Reducing the CGT discount will mean less demand for properties by investors freeing up supply for owner occupiers.
Increased revenue from these policy changes can be used to build more public housing.
Good news.
also we suppose they make a good point that we’re just buying the wrong immigrants
instead of drawing in the yupsters who all demand individual accommodation in inner city and inner suburban areas with multiple conveniences
we should instead be taking older family members of ethnics who tend to share accommodation with the family already in their residence, thereby not increasing demand at all
SCIENCE said:
also we suppose they make a good point that we’re just buying the wrong immigrants
Should be noted that we are not allowed to buy immigrants anymore
SCIENCE said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Abolishing negative gearing on existing properties will provide an incentive for investors to build more new properties which will help renters and owner occupiers.
Reducing the CGT discount will mean less demand for properties by investors freeing up supply for owner occupiers.
Increased revenue from these policy changes can be used to build more public housing.
Good news.
also we suppose they make a good point that we’re just buying the wrong immigrants
instead of drawing in the yupsters who all demand individual accommodation in inner city and inner suburban areas with multiple conveniences
we should instead be taking older family members of ethnics who tend to share accommodation with the family already in their residence, thereby not increasing demand at all
I realised I don’t miss an entire house at all.
A bedroom and shared rest of the house is fine.
can’t they just get 跟爱 to write and anonymise these
SCIENCE said:
can’t they just get 跟爱 to write and anonymise these
Obi Wan “These are not the hate speeches you are looking for, move along”
wow fk can these wokist Liberal snowflakes be any more hypersensitive
Wild horse art on birth certificates is ‘hypocritical’, says brumby welfare group
Artwork showing brumbies in the Snowy Mountains has been used on limited-edition birth certificates to mark the Chinese Year of the Horse. The decision has been labelled ‘hypocritical’ as the NSW government continues to cull wild horses in the area.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-20/brumby-birth-certificate-art-outrage/106363854
in breaking news First Nations people are upset because their likenesses and artworks are used for all manner of Australian publications, while government policies and community racisms continue to fuck up their welfare and contribute to employment / health / education differentials and leave them with greater mortality rates that essentially amounts to a cull of First Nations people in the country
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
I read that several times, but I really don’t understand. But then I never understood economics at High School, either. I failed at that and ended up giving up at high school.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
I read that several times, but I really don’t understand. But then I never understood economics at High School, either. I failed at that and ended up giving up at high school.
basically saying that if investors weren’t given so many tax breaks then they wouldn’t buy so many investment properties. This would allow first home buyers access to those properties. first home buyers who are probably renters.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.
I read that several times, but I really don’t understand. But then I never understood economics at High School, either. I failed at that and ended up giving up at high school.
overcomplicating things is a typical way of keeping dangerous ideas out of the minds of lowly degenerate amateurs like yourself
on the internet everyone’s an expert but the Real Experts don’t let on the good stuff so you’ll never know
if people really demand something, and there’s less to go around, the price will be higher
if people have plenty of stuff to get rid of, and nobody else wants it all that much, the price will be lower
the end
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Tau.Neutrino said:
Good news.
also we suppose they make a good point that we’re just buying the wrong immigrants
instead of drawing in the yupsters who all demand individual accommodation in inner city and inner suburban areas with multiple conveniences
we should instead be taking older family members of ethnics who tend to share accommodation with the family already in their residence, thereby not increasing demand at all
I realised I don’t miss an entire house at all.
A bedroom and shared rest of the house is fine.
When we got proper migrants who added to our culture and lived experience, proper migrants lke the Bee Gees.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.
I read that several times, but I really don’t understand. But then I never understood economics at High School, either. I failed at that and ended up giving up at high school.
overcomplicating things is a typical way of keeping dangerous ideas out of the minds of lowly degenerate amateurs like yourself
on the internet everyone’s an expert but the Real Experts don’t let on the good stuff so you’ll never know
if people really demand something, and there’s less to go around, the price will be higher
if people have plenty of stuff to get rid of, and nobody else wants it all that much, the price will be lower
the end
What if people decide they like their luxuries so when mortgages go up so do their prices
They don’t tighten their belt as expected.
You also give the banks more power so eventually they are so powerful they rule the world.
We must continually expand and churn out more and more crap no one needs.
Witty Rejoinder said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
Load of rubbish.
Reduced investment in rental properties will drive up rents, and reduce incentive for builders to build more, both of which will drive house prices further up, not down.
Immigrants are a significant part of the reason that rent prices are high. That doesn’t mean that immigration should necessarily be reduced, but it should be included in the discussion.
What’s needed:
1. More government investment in low cost rental properties (and increased taxes to pay for it).
2. Remove incentives to leave properties empty, or leave building blocks empty, so yes remove the reduction on CGT, but don’t even think about removing negative gearing for rental properties.
3. Increase development of areas outside the capital cities, and provide high speed public transport to these areas.
Abolishing negative gearing on existing properties will provide an incentive for investors to build more new properties which will help renters and owner occupiers.
Reducing the CGT discount will mean less demand for properties by investors freeing up supply for owner occupiers.
Increased revenue from these policy changes can be used to build more public housing.
I do think some allowance for inflation should be done on the CGT bit. When I sold the house at Casterton I wasn’t fully aware of the 50% discount, I thought an inflation calculation was done. I’d had the place for over 25 years and it had been my business premises for all but a couple of those. My accountant had advised me to get a formal valuation when it stopped being business premises though, so apparently that was used in the calculations. At that time, at the beginning of COVID, house prices in Casterton had not really begun to rise. The people who bought it from me sold it a couple of years later for twice what I got from them. But them’s the breaks.
Peak Warming Man said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:also we suppose they make a good point that we’re just buying the wrong immigrants
instead of drawing in the yupsters who all demand individual accommodation in inner city and inner suburban areas with multiple conveniences
we should instead be taking older family members of ethnics who tend to share accommodation with the family already in their residence, thereby not increasing demand at all
I realised I don’t miss an entire house at all.
A bedroom and shared rest of the house is fine.When we got proper migrants who added to our culture and lived experience, proper migrants lke the Bee Gees.
LOL
Divine Angel said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Cymek said:
I realised I don’t miss an entire house at all.
A bedroom and shared rest of the house is fine.When we got proper migrants who added to our culture and lived experience, proper migrants lke the Bee Gees.
LOL
well they are easy to spot
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
SCIENCE said:
can’t they just get 跟爱 to write and anonymise these
How odd. Whoever wrote those even does the random capitalization thing when they are hand writing stuff.
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
Peak Warming Man said:
When we got proper migrants who added to our culture and lived experience, proper migrants lke the Bee Gees.
LOL
well they are easy to spot
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:Divine Angel said:
LOL
well they are easy to spot
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
LOL
well they are easy to spot
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
it’s just sad that in an article ostensibly defending migrants as not the main cause of housing costs
they try to play the trope ironically but without other flags to clue us in on that
so they end up reinforcing the stereotype instead
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
well they are easy to spot
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.
surely you mean zionists
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:well they are easy to spot
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.
sounds like the Italian and Greek communities in Melbourne back in the 60s and 70s.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:
You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.surely you mean zionists
Are they as easily identified ?
JudgeMental said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Immigration is driving up house prices in Australia, right? Sorry, but you’re looking at the wrong people.Millie Muroi
Economics Writer
February 20, 2026 — 5:00amYes, those moving to Australia add to demand for housing (after all, they need somewhere to stay).
But last financial year, nearly two-thirds of these people were on temporary visas and half were international students. They might push up rents, especially in the capital cities where they tend to move, but these migrants rarely look to buy a place when they arrive, and many leave once their visa expires.
We also know they contribute a lot when they’re here. Migrants do the jobs many of us don’t want to (from hospital and healthcare work to hospitality shifts) and contribute more in tax than they tend to benefit from government services, as well as filling skills shortages in areas such as construction: the very thing we need to build more houses.
Basically, yes, we can cut down our migrant intake. But it comes with a big price tag, from higher taxes to pay for things like caring for our ageing population to worker shortages.
And if we’re focusing on dampening house prices? There are much bigger fish to fry.
Fresh analysis by the Australian Council of Social Service shows it’s actually investors we should be pointing the finger at — and perhaps more crucially, the tax system that drives them to behave the way they do.
Property investors are buying twice as many homes as first home buyers, according to the research, with average loan sizes about $100,000 higher than those of first home buyers. It’s no wonder would-be first home owners are being outbid by investors and finding it so hard to walk away with the keys.
While investing in property can be a good thing if it means building more houses, the problem is that most property investments simply chew up existing housing. That is, the limited supply of housing in Australia is being bought up by investors at the expense of first home buyers.
If you believe migrants drive up demand, you should be just as outraged – if not more – about most investors. The Council of Social Service’s research suggests only one in eight investments in property are for building new homes.
That means, for the most part, investors — who are typically already wealthy — are buying up the limited housing we have, and generating income from it, while many renters are squeezed and end up struggling to save for a deposit to buy their first home.
Of course, investors aren’t necessarily heartless people. Most are acting, as is to be expected, in their own self-interest and trying to set themselves up for a more comfortable life within the rules we’ve set.
The problem is that the rules we’ve set give a leg-up to property investors — most of whom don’t need it — crushing many first home buyers in the process.
The wealthiest 10 per cent of households hold two-thirds of the value of investment properties in Australia, according to the council. And yet these investors benefit from tax breaks that help them keep buying – and often flipping – properties while taking on less risk, and making more gain.
The capital gains tax discount, for example, allows an investor to sell a property and only pay tax on half of the profit they make as long as they’ve held on to the property for at least one year (not hard to do when the value of your property is soaring).
That discount was introduced in 1999 as a simple way of only taxing the profit after inflation had been taken into account. Rather than calculating how much impact inflation had on every individual investment property sale over the years, the government decided it would be much simpler to just whack a 50 per cent discount on all of it.
That might have made sense back in the day. Today, with the calculation and data tools we have at our disposal, there is no excuse. We’re no longer in the Stone Age.
Negative gearing, similarly, encourages investors to buy more properties. That’s because – assuming they’re earning less in rent than they are spending on paying interest on the loan and other maintenance costs – they can reduce the amount of tax they pay by deducting the difference from their taxable income.
A person with a salary of $200,000, for example, who pays $30,000 in interest and rakes in $20,000 in rent, would be able to reduce their taxable income by $10,000 to $190,000 that year. Sure, they’re still making a loss — and perhaps they’re a rare breed of investor offering discounted rent — but they are effectively getting their interest payments subsidised, even if they then manage to sell that property for a huge profit.
Not only have these tax discounts pushed up demand for housing (unsurprising when you get such a sweet deal) with home prices rising three times faster than wages since the CGT discount began, but they are coming at the expense of affordable housing as well: not just lower house price growth but housing that is accessible to some of the most vulnerable people.
Of course, we can’t expect everyone to have flash housing.
But when the median rent is $15,000 higher than the “affordable” rent (an amount that does not exceed 30 per cent of income) for the lowest 40 per cent of income holders – and the national median home purchase price is more than half a million dollars higher than the “affordable” price (spending no more than 30 per cent of income on mortgage repayments over 30 years at an average 6 per cent interest rate) — there’s a clear problem.
There’s very little reason to fatten property investors’ wallets, especially when they’re not adding to housing supply. At the very least, the capital gains discount needs to be based on actual inflation figures.
We know the government’s social affordable housing comes at a cost to taxpayers. But so does homelessness and housing insecurity.
And guess who costs more than social housing recipients?
The Council of Social Service estimates that between 2019 and 2023, the federal government spent more on one property investor (just in capital gains tax discounts) than all levels of government spent on two people in social housing.
And affordable housing is something we can pay for by scaling back tax discounts for investors.
The council reckons curbing the CGT discount to 25 per cent and phasing out negative gearing would reduce home prices by up to 4 per cent (and by more in some places) – a similar impact to the government reaching its target of building 1.2 million new homes.
But I think keeping negative gearing or capital gains tax in place, especially for investment in new homes, makes some sense. Some people will always want to invest in property, but it makes sense for us to direct them towards investing in new homes (we all know the key to better housing affordability is increased supply as well as lower demand).
While immigrants seem to cop a disproportionate amount of blame (probably because they’re easy to spot), there’s a less visible group propelling demand for housing. Property investors can be a force for good, but not if what’s good for them is forcing first home buyers to stay locked out.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/blaming-immigrants-for-high-house-prices-look-at-the-other-i-word-20260219-p5o3n1.html
I read that several times, but I really don’t understand. But then I never understood economics at High School, either. I failed at that and ended up giving up at high school.
basically saying that if investors weren’t given so many tax breaks then they wouldn’t buy so many investment properties. This would allow first home buyers access to those properties. first home buyers who are probably renters.
OK. Thanks.
:)
JudgeMental said:
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.sounds like the Italian and Greek communities in Melbourne back in the 60s and 70s.
I imagine so.
Then a hybrid culture is created because we are in a changing world
Cymek said:
JudgeMental said:
Cymek said:A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.sounds like the Italian and Greek communities in Melbourne back in the 60s and 70s.
I imagine so.
Then a hybrid culture is created because we are in a changing world
When the children of the immigrants reach the age of questioning their parents. And the grandchildren think much more locally and have never lived in The Old Country.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.surely you mean zionists
Are they as easily identified ?
By the tattoo, ONCE THE FORUM GETS ITS WAY
JudgeMental said:
Cymek said:
Divine Angel said:You mean immigrants don’t live at the back of their ethnic food restaurants?? What if they’re good muslims? 🤯
A vicious circle may exist in that Muslims are perhaps less likely to socialise outside their own ethnicity due to concerns they will be abused
So people think they are strange and judge them so and abuse them and they isolate themselves more.sounds like the Italian and Greek communities in Melbourne back in the 60s and 70s.
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:can’t they just get 跟爱 to write and anonymise these
How odd. Whoever wrote those even does the random capitalization thing when they are hand writing stuff.
That happens to me sometimes. Most often at the start of a word, but sometimes inside the word, too. Sometimes I print in all capitals (including large at the start of words). Sometimes I print in Cap + lower case. Sometimes I write with running writing. And sometimes it all gets mixed up.
I used to get into trouble about my “writing” being untidy, messy and difficult to read at school. I really tried hard, but it never came together.
Peak Warming Man said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:surely you mean zionists
Are they as easily identified ?
By the tattoo, ONCE THE FORUM GETS ITS WAY
Well, I would have said they sometimes wear a little hat. Kind of less extreme than what you are suggesting…
Michael V said:
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:can’t they just get 跟爱 to write and anonymise these
How odd. Whoever wrote those even does the random capitalization thing when they are hand writing stuff.
That happens to me sometimes. Most often at the start of a word, but sometimes inside the word, too. Sometimes I print in all capitals (including large at the start of words). Sometimes I print in Cap + lower case. Sometimes I write with running writing. And sometimes it all gets mixed up.
I used to get into trouble about my “writing” being untidy, messy and difficult to read at school. I really tried hard, but it never came together.
Sounds like dysgraphia.
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
buffy said:How odd. Whoever wrote those even does the random capitalization thing when they are hand writing stuff.
That happens to me sometimes. Most often at the start of a word, but sometimes inside the word, too. Sometimes I print in all capitals (including large at the start of words). Sometimes I print in Cap + lower case. Sometimes I write with running writing. And sometimes it all gets mixed up.
I used to get into trouble about my “writing” being untidy, messy and difficult to read at school. I really tried hard, but it never came together.
Sounds like dysgraphia.
I’ve not heard of that before. But I could have a very good go at guessing the word’s meaning. “Dys” + “graphia”.
Anyway, I checked “dysgraphia” out and I only have some of those signs. I was always very good at spelling tests, often the best in class. I understood individual words and the the nuances between words with similar meanings. My comprehension tests were always excellent. I was slow at writing, but that was often about decision-making between so many ways of saying very similar things, and wanting to get the meaning correct. I would guess that if I were to be considered dysgraphic, it’d be considered borderline, and about the motor skills of forming the letter in a regular way. All that said, very few people in my adult life ever had trouble reading my handwriting. It’s just messy, it’s not extreme.
Now, my youngest granddaughter on the other hand…
>>Angus Taylor says the Coalition is willing to help the government strengthen legislation so women with ties to Islamic State are not issued Australian passports.
The bastard.
Peak Warming Man said:
>>Angus Taylor says the Coalition is willing to help the government strengthen legislation so women with ties to Islamic State are not issued Australian passports.
The bastard.
any chance to stand against women eh
see
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-21/angus-taylor-shadow-cabinet-albanese-government/106337018
wait it really is just team sports
The right wing comments are garnering the most likes, eg
Since Abbott wasn’t born here and he’s having difficulty adjusting to the Australian way of doing things can we tell him to fuck off back where he came from?
https://www.tonyabbott.au/p/our-immigration-system-is-destroying
Witty Rejoinder said:
Since Abbott wasn’t born here and he’s having difficulty adjusting to the Australian way of doing things can we tell him to fuck off back where he came from?https://www.tonyabbott.au/p/our-immigration-system-is-destroying
Yes please.
roughbarked said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Since Abbott wasn’t born here and he’s having difficulty adjusting to the Australian way of doing things can we tell him to fuck off back where he came from?https://www.tonyabbott.au/p/our-immigration-system-is-destroying
Yes please.
Is it because Jacinta is one of them that they can use an aboriginal artwork as background?
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
Is your TV watching you?
I don’t have a TV!!!
Might be a smart move.
and this is in the wrong thread.
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
Is your TV watching you?
I don’t have a TV!!!
Might be a smart move.
and this is in the wrong thread.
are you leading me astray, again?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Since Abbott wasn’t born here and he’s having difficulty adjusting to the Australian way of doing things can we tell him to fuck off back where he came from?https://www.tonyabbott.au/p/our-immigration-system-is-destroying
Seems more than fair.
JudgeMental said:
roughbarked said:
JudgeMental said:I don’t have a TV!!!
Might be a smart move.
and this is in the wrong thread.
are you leading me astray, again?
Only if you feel led.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Is your TV watching you?
21 minutes?
Can you give a precis, please?
well every device, even your USB cable is capable of listening in and sending data.
It is an ad for Incogni but also an awakening for all users of devices.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Is your TV watching you?
21 minutes?
Can you give a precis, please?
well every device, even your USB cable is capable of listening in and sending data.
It is an ad for Incogni but also an awakening for all users of devices.
USB cables listening in and send data to nefarious actors? Spare me!
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:21 minutes?
Can you give a precis, please?
well every device, even your USB cable is capable of listening in and sending data.
It is an ad for Incogni but also an awakening for all users of devices.
USB cables listening in and send data to nefarious actors? Spare me!
It is what it does. It transfers data.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Peak Warming Man said:
We’ve got the reactors locked in, every day it gets better and better for AUKUS
They seem awfully cheap, still Arthur Daley’s Nuclear Reactors and Mowing Services has some good references according to their web site.
A Nuclear powered mower, for the tough grass.
Hey what about this critically important venture¿
It took 15 months to narrow a field of 270 artificial intelligence experts to 12 nominees for an AI authority, at a cost of almost $200,000, before it was suddenly scrapped by the federal government.
guess the time isn’t proportional to the waste of money
Ian said:
I take it that that’s Albo and the water licence millionaire (Taylor) both trying to look a bit like Hanson the racist.
Michael V said:
Ian said:
I take it that that’s Albo and the water licence millionaire (Taylor) both trying to look a bit like Hanson the racist.
Not a likely contender for a Stanley Award, i suspect.
Michael V said:
Ian said:
I take it that that’s Albo and the water licence millionaire (Taylor) both trying to look a bit like Hanson the racist.
👍
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Ian said:
I take it that that’s Albo and the water licence millionaire (Taylor) both trying to look a bit like Hanson the racist.
Not a likely contender for a Stanley Award, i suspect.
She has a lot of support which seems to be a standard human response when life becomes hard to blame the immigrant.
Doesn’t seem to matter the world is a mess and billions are suffering hardship of some description.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Ian said:
I take it that that’s Albo and the water licence millionaire (Taylor) both trying to look a bit like Hanson the racist.
Not a likely contender for a Stanley Award, i suspect.
TIL. Stanley Award.
Ta.
good to know that Australia can be a leader sometimes and not just a follower
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-24/french-social-media-ban-families-suing-tiktok/106348256
https://www.cdpp.gov.au/prosecution-liam-alexander-hall
On 4 February 2026, the WA Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) (comprising the Western Australian Police Force, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) charged Liam Alexander Hall (the defendant) with one charge of committing a terrorist act.On 27 January 2026, the Western Australian Police had charged the defendant with one charge of committing an unlawful act with intent to harm and one charge of making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.
The prosecution against the defendant relates to his alleged act of throwing a home-made improvised explosive device into the crowd at an Invasion Day Rally held on 26 January 2026 in the Perth CBD. The JCTT investigation is called Operation Dumfries.
The CDPP recognises the high level of public interest in this matter and will provide regular prosecution updates.
Potentially looking at a life sentence.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has said prosecutors will allege the act was “a nationalist and racially motivated attack … targeting members of the Aboriginal community, First Nations people”.Police claim the accused had accessed “pro-white” material online and was ideologically driven.
Speaking in state parliament, Premier Roger Cook said it would be alleged the accused had been radicalised by “online, hateful and racist ideology”, while Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas also condemned the alleged attack and called for the justice process to take its course.
https://www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/what-we-know-about-alleged-perth-bomber-liam-alexander-hall/news-story/20df05a51aee604096ee024881ac5739
dv said:
https://www.cdpp.gov.au/prosecution-liam-alexander-hall
On 4 February 2026, the WA Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) (comprising the Western Australian Police Force, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) charged Liam Alexander Hall (the defendant) with one charge of committing a terrorist act.
On 27 January 2026, the Western Australian Police had charged the defendant with one charge of committing an unlawful act with intent to harm and one charge of making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.
The prosecution against the defendant relates to his alleged act of throwing a home-made improvised explosive device into the crowd at an Invasion Day Rally held on 26 January 2026 in the Perth CBD. The JCTT investigation is called Operation Dumfries.
The CDPP recognises the high level of public interest in this matter and will provide regular prosecution updates.
—-
Potentially looking at a life sentence.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has said prosecutors will allege the act was “a nationalist and racially motivated attack … targeting members of the Aboriginal community, First Nations people”.Police claim the accused had accessed “pro-white” material online and was ideologically driven.
Speaking in state parliament, Premier Roger Cook said it would be alleged the accused had been radicalised by “online, hateful and racist ideology”, while Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas also condemned the alleged attack and called for the justice process to take its course.
that’s all right president hanson will pardon him soon
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
https://www.cdpp.gov.au/prosecution-liam-alexander-hall
On 4 February 2026, the WA Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) (comprising the Western Australian Police Force, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) charged Liam Alexander Hall (the defendant) with one charge of committing a terrorist act.
On 27 January 2026, the Western Australian Police had charged the defendant with one charge of committing an unlawful act with intent to harm and one charge of making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances.
The prosecution against the defendant relates to his alleged act of throwing a home-made improvised explosive device into the crowd at an Invasion Day Rally held on 26 January 2026 in the Perth CBD. The JCTT investigation is called Operation Dumfries.
The CDPP recognises the high level of public interest in this matter and will provide regular prosecution updates.
—-
Potentially looking at a life sentence.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has said prosecutors will allege the act was “a nationalist and racially motivated attack … targeting members of the Aboriginal community, First Nations people”.Police claim the accused had accessed “pro-white” material online and was ideologically driven.
Speaking in state parliament, Premier Roger Cook said it would be alleged the accused had been radicalised by “online, hateful and racist ideology”, while Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas also condemned the alleged attack and called for the justice process to take its course.
that’s all right president hanson will pardon him soon
But the Aboriginals are not exactly recent immigrants (post WAP)…
party_pants said:
But the Aboriginals are not exactly recent immigrants (post WAP)…
You have to look at these things on a geological timescale.
captain_spalding said:
party_pants said:But the Aboriginals are not exactly recent immigrants (post WAP)…
You have to look at these things on a geological timescale.
The White Australia Policy (WAP) doesn’t even register on that timescale.
SCIENCE said:
that’s all right president hanson will pardon him soon
There is in fact an ONP candidate called Liam Hall who has attracted some unwanted attention over this.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/one-nation-urges-end-to-hate-received-by-ex-candidate-who-shares-name-with-alleged-invasion-day-bomber-20260218-p5o3dn.html
dv said:
SCIENCE said:that’s all right president hanson will pardon him soon
There is in fact an ONP candidate called Liam Hall who has attracted some unwanted attention over this.
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/one-nation-urges-end-to-hate-received-by-ex-candidate-who-shares-name-with-alleged-invasion-day-bomber-20260218-p5o3dn.html
show me a good Liam Hall!
Mixed all this excitement.
Anthony Albanese evacuated from The Lodge following security incident
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-24/anthony-albanese-security-incident-at-lodge-police-canberra/106383816
Bubblecar said:
Mixed all this excitement.Anthony Albanese evacuated from The Lodge following security incident
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-24/anthony-albanese-security-incident-at-lodge-police-canberra/106383816
Mixed = missed
Just goes to show, I’m a bundle of nerves.
captain_spalding said:
party_pants said:But the Aboriginals are not exactly recent immigrants (post WAP)…
You have to look at these things on a geological timescale.
They had the original squatters rights.
they’re all the same hey
The businessman behind a bold plan to build a Trump Tower on the Gold Coast ran a development business that collapsed owing $28 million to creditors, the ABC can reveal. Developer David Young also was largely “uncontactable” and failed to file key financial information following the 2010 collapse of the company, according to a liquidator’s report.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-25/trump-tower-altus-david-young-business-collapse/106382270
SCIENCE said:
they’re all the same hey
The businessman behind a bold plan to build a Trump Tower on the Gold Coast ran a development business that collapsed owing $28 million to creditors, the ABC can reveal. Developer David Young also was largely “uncontactable” and failed to file key financial information following the 2010 collapse of the company, according to a liquidator’s report.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-25/trump-tower-altus-david-young-business-collapse/106382270
Sounds like the perfect candidate to facilitate a TRUMP erection.
oooh American false flag operations ramping up
The ABC has now confirmed that an email was sent to a Falun Gong supporter falsely claiming that explosives had been placed around the prime minister’s residence, and that they would be detonated if the performances by Shen Yun proceeded.
seems like
During the trial, Coles rejected the accusation that the discounts were fake or “illusory” saying what shoppers saw on a “Down Down” pricing ticket was literally correct and offered a genuine discount on the previous price. With a few minor exceptions, the products were sold at the higher price for four to six weeks and a substantial volume was sold, the court heard. Coles also argued that the consumer watchdog failed to establish what a regular price should be and how long it should be offered for.
this might go the way of cases involving “misleading” advertising as opposed to false advertising, id est, misinterpreted advertising versus outright lies
SCIENCE said:
seems like
During the trial, Coles rejected the accusation that the discounts were fake or “illusory” saying what shoppers saw on a “Down Down” pricing ticket was literally correct and offered a genuine discount on the previous price. With a few minor exceptions, the products were sold at the higher price for four to six weeks and a substantial volume was sold, the court heard. Coles also argued that the consumer watchdog failed to establish what a regular price should be and how long it should be offered for.
this might go the way of cases involving “misleading” advertising as opposed to false advertising, id est, misinterpreted advertising versus outright lies
Coles have being doing this for many years
They put a product up in price and then offer it at the old price and say it’s down
Technically it is but its misleading
Its like how specials are often sold out for days
Are they out of stock or not refilling the shelves and they sit out back
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
seems like
During the trial, Coles rejected the accusation that the discounts were fake or “illusory” saying what shoppers saw on a “Down Down” pricing ticket was literally correct and offered a genuine discount on the previous price. With a few minor exceptions, the products were sold at the higher price for four to six weeks and a substantial volume was sold, the court heard. Coles also argued that the consumer watchdog failed to establish what a regular price should be and how long it should be offered for.
this might go the way of cases involving “misleading” advertising as opposed to false advertising, id est, misinterpreted advertising versus outright lies
Coles have being doing this for many years
They put a product up in price and then offer it at the old price and say it’s down
Technically it is but its misleading
Its like how specials are often sold out for days
Are they out of stock or not refilling the shelves and they sit out back
yes we think that is the thrust of the case
anyway sold out specials we assume are just people buying it all up
>>Southern Downs Regional Council rejects developer’s proposal for water bottling facility on Cherrabah
Good.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-25/council-knocks-back-cherrabah-water-bottling-plan/106386412
pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
SCIENCE said:
pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
They should do a remake staring them seven brides for seven mullahs
SCIENCE said:
pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
Is this during COVID?
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
Is this during COVID?
yeah fair point bioterrorism not nonterrorism
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-30/wuhan-coronavirus-australian-families-christmas-island/11913304
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/06/hysterical-and-ruinous-christmas-island-faces-its-coronavirus-moment
jokes but at least Stanford Prison didn’t play out
When’s PWM’s birthday?
https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Where-It-All-Went-Wrong/Amy-Remeikis/9781761822117
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
They should do a remake staring them seven brides for seven mullahs
That’d make a great musical except that the lyrics for every song are just:
‘There is no god but Allah
And Mohamed is his prophet’.
The critics would massacre it.
Based on polling, Libs are looking like being reduced to 4 seats in South Australia at the March election, assuming they don’t lose some to One Nation.
dv said:
Based on polling, Libs are looking like being reduced to 4 seats in South Australia at the March election, assuming they don’t lose some to One Nation.
rubs hands
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern moves to Australia
Who knows, she might end up next door.
Bubblecar said:
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern moves to Australia
Who knows, she might end up next door.
what a traitor
Bubblecar said:
dv said:
Based on polling, Libs are looking like being reduced to 4 seats in South Australia at the March election, assuming they don’t lose some to One Nation.
rubs hands
so the enemy of our enemy is our friend
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
They should do a remake staring them seven brides for seven mullahs
That’d make a great musical except that the lyrics for every song are just:
‘There is no god but Allah
And Mohamed is his prophet’.The critics would massacre it.
wait isn’t that the Falun Gong Shen Yun story
dv said:
When’s PWM’s birthday?https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Where-It-All-Went-Wrong/Amy-Remeikis/9781761822117
Gosh!
NHOH but since when does a REA have a conscience?
Divine Angel said:
NHOH but since when does a REA have a conscience?
She worked as a real estate agent in Annerley (Brisbane inner south) when we were living nearby. Ugh.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
NHOH but since when does a REA have a conscience?
She worked as a real estate agent in Annerley (Brisbane inner south) when we were living nearby. Ugh.
sorry we don’t understand the whole team sports is about dividing one team from another, and supporters of one team from those of another
division is the name of the game
they should be celebrating this strengthening and improvement and robustification of Australian political discourse
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
oooh American false flag operations ramping up
The ABC has now confirmed that an email was sent to a Falun Gong supporter falsely claiming that explosives had been placed around the prime minister’s residence, and that they would be detonated if the performances by Shen Yun proceeded.
pretty sure they sent good hardworking non terrorist Australian citizens from CHINA to Christmas Island for less
They should do a remake staring them seven brides for seven mullahs
That’d make a great musical except that the lyrics for every song are just:
‘There is no god but Allah
And Mohamed is his prophet’.The critics would massacre it.
wait isn’t that the Falun Gong Shen Yun story
oh hey we
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-26/what-is-shen-yun-group-named-in-albanese-threat/106387128
see the part that yous bothsidesers
neglected to mention
Shen Yun is one of Falun Gong’s media and culture outreach organisations, alongside The Epoch Times newspaper. Shen Yun regularly tours across 36 countries, mostly in elite cultural venues.
oh what’s that
The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.
is this relevant at all
The Epoch Times has promoted an array of pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theories and is known as one of Trump’s closest media allies and defenders.
surely it’s important to know the connections
The publication championed Trump’s Spygate conspiracy theory in its news coverage and advertising, and the Epoch Media Group’s Edge of Wonder videos on YouTube spread the far-right, pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory and embraced false QAnon claims.
does it matter to anyone with a brain
In September 2019, during the Trump–Ukraine scandal, Hunter Biden’s Wikipedia article included dubious claims about his business dealings in Ukraine and his father Joe Biden’s motivations for going after a Ukrainian prosecutor; the claims were sourced to The Epoch Times and The New American. The Epoch Times promoted the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden had abused his power in 2016 to protect Hunter’s business interests in Ukraine. During the February 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, The Epoch Times shared viral disinformation from the conservative group Judicial Watch that falsely alleged inflated voter rolls. The disinformation, which went viral on Facebook, was debunked by fact checkers and the Iowa secretary of state. A Harvard media expert said that The Epoch Times employed a “classic disinformation tactic” known as “trading up the chain”, in which false stories are repackaged and shared.
or anyone that cares about public health
The Epoch Times has spread misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in print and via social media including Facebook and YouTube. In 2022, Raquel Miguel of the European watchdog EU DisinfoLab said, “The Epoch Times has played a noticeable role in transmitting and amplifying many anti-vaccine narratives”. According to Josef Holnburger of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy, a German extremism monitoring agency, The Epoch Times’s German edition has been the most shared outlet among Germany’s COVID-skeptic movement.
nah that’s right trying to maintain integrity of information is censorship
In August 2019, Facebook banned The Epoch Times from advertising on its platform after finding that the newspaper broke its political transparency rules by publishing pro-Trump subscription ads through sockpuppet pages such as “Honest Paper” and “Pure American Journalism”. A Facebook representative told NBC: “Over the past year we removed accounts associated with The Epoch Times for violating our ad policies, including trying to get around our review systems.”
deity damn
Strathfield ¿ WTF
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-27/nsw-lgbt-hate-data-released-ahead-of-mardi-gras/106394004
https://youtu.be/FBb45XSbQt8?si=QeEIFA9Y15VdKSsw
Constitutional Clarion:
Is it constitutionally valid to prevent an Australian citizen from entering Australia?
dv said:
https://youtu.be/FBb45XSbQt8?si=QeEIFA9Y15VdKSswConstitutional Clarion:
Is it constitutionally valid to prevent an Australian citizen from entering Australia?
I wouldn’t think so
If a criminal they can always be arrested once they have come through customs
Cymek said:
dv said:
https://youtu.be/FBb45XSbQt8?si=QeEIFA9Y15VdKSswConstitutional Clarion:
Is it constitutionally valid to prevent an Australian citizen from entering Australia?
I wouldn’t think so
If a criminal they can always be arrested once they have come through customs
do they have to stay on the mainland
anything for a quick and easy slam dunk
wait let’s see
It is difficult to know in each case what has motivated the people involved. Researchers have argued the increased visibility of sexually and gender diverse people, including representation in popular media, has triggered a negative response from opponents of queer identity and expression. University of Newcastle criminology lecturer Justin Ellis said many of the negative attitudes have circulated rapidly among communities on digital platforms. “ might have its origins in religious bigotry in the United States, but then is amplified through digital platforms and manifests in protests against drag queen story time,” he said. Mr Ellis said frequently observed tropes include the conflation of same-sex attracted men with child groomers. “One of the tactics here is to conflate, to confuse, so that people will be reading it going, ‘Hang on, who’s who here?’” he said.
probably it was atheists, they’re the worst
SCIENCE said:
anything for a quick and easy slam dunk
wait let’s see
It is difficult to know in each case what has motivated the people involved. Researchers have argued the increased visibility of sexually and gender diverse people, including representation in popular media, has triggered a negative response from opponents of queer identity and expression. University of Newcastle criminology lecturer Justin Ellis said many of the negative attitudes have circulated rapidly among communities on digital platforms. “ might have its origins in religious bigotry in the United States, but then is amplified through digital platforms and manifests in protests against drag queen story time,” he said. Mr Ellis said frequently observed tropes include the conflation of same-sex attracted men with child groomers. “One of the tactics here is to conflate, to confuse, so that people will be reading it going, ‘Hang on, who’s who here?’” he said.
probably it was atheists, they’re the worst
Lots of people associated gay men as paedophiles, which isn’t the case.
Its ironic in a horrible way that certain religious practices coming out of these nations didn’t have problems with child brides and forced marriages.
I always reckon religion didn’t like gays or lesbians not because the texts says its wrong but because they don’t have children to add the flock (not naturally anyway)
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
anything for a quick and easy slam dunk
wait let’s see
It is difficult to know in each case what has motivated the people involved. Researchers have argued the increased visibility of sexually and gender diverse people, including representation in popular media, has triggered a negative response from opponents of queer identity and expression. University of Newcastle criminology lecturer Justin Ellis said many of the negative attitudes have circulated rapidly among communities on digital platforms. “ might have its origins in religious bigotry in the United States, but then is amplified through digital platforms and manifests in protests against drag queen story time,” he said. Mr Ellis said frequently observed tropes include the conflation of same-sex attracted men with child groomers. “One of the tactics here is to conflate, to confuse, so that people will be reading it going, ‘Hang on, who’s who here?’” he said.
probably it was atheists, they’re the worst
Lots of people associated gay men as paedophiles, which isn’t the case.
Its ironic in a horrible way that certain religious practices coming out of these nations didn’t have problems with child brides and forced marriages.
I always reckon religion didn’t like gays or lesbians not because the texts says its wrong but because they don’t have children to add the flock (not naturally anyway)
“There, you see how bad some of these variations are¡ Variations are bad¡”
Radical Islamists might advocate throwing gays off buildings but the more moderate incarnations have a rather ambiguous relationship with homosexuality whereby it’s not even considered to exist as anything distinct that must be suppressed and is just common infidelity that is frowned upon like heterosexual sex outside marriage. As long as all men eventually settle down, get married and raise pious young Muslims any past dalliances are not considered essentially problematic.
Also historically there has been an undercurrent of homosexuality in some Arab/Muslim art and poetry that wasn’t particularly suppressed in the cosmopolitan cultures of past caliphates. To this day amongst some Afghans there is even a culture of older men taking late teenage boys as lovers
Most laws against homosexuality in the Muslim world date from the colonial period where they were introduced by Europeans.
Certainly not to say that Muslims are a benign influence on LGBT issues but then again it was only 50 years ago that homosexuality stopped being illegal in most western countries.
Police investigating after Tim Wilson’s ‘respectful society’ forum gatecrashed by white supremacist
Angus Delaney and Alexander Darling
Updated February 27, 2026 — 12:47pm,first published 8:01am
Police are investigating after a white supremacist and serial protester gatecrashed a community event hosted by Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, claiming that immigration is an existential threat to Australia.
It is the third time the shadow treasurer has been confronted by the far-right activist in eight months and comes amid a rise in reported threats to politicians.
The leader of the far-right National Workers Alliance disrupted a community event held by Tim Wilson in Melbourne.
Wilson held a forum on the topic “How do we build a respectful society?” at Bentleigh East’s Boundary Hotel on Thursday night. Mid-way through the event, “blokes stormed in the rear of the event … two started recording and one started shouting,” Wilson said.
Video posted on social media shows Matt Trihey, a white supremacist and leader of the far-right National Workers Alliance, enter the venue and start pointing and shouting at Wilson, as a mostly elderly crowd watched on.
“I think I’ve made my point. What I want the politicians to do is address the biggest issue we have ever faced: crime and immigration,” Trihey said. “No one’s touching it because they’re too scared of being judged.
“No one’s touching it, and they must if we are to survive. This is an existential threat to our people.”
It is the third time Trihey has confronted the Goldstein MP. Wilson said Trihey had squared up to him outside a polling booth during last year’s federal election campaign and during a private meeting at a cafe last Friday.
“He was calm but intrusive during the middle of a meeting,” Wilson told this masthead of last week’s cafe encounter.
“Security is an increasingly large part of our consideration as I have previously been targeted with antisemitic threats for standing up for the Jewish community, and homophobic threats, in an increasingly unstable political environment.”
The trio of gatecrashers left the Boundary Hotel after about 10 minutes. In a statement, police said the men had left the area by the time they arrived and officers were making further enquiries.
Trihey was filmed in April last year gatecrashing a candidates’ forum in Kooyong, where he made similar complaints about immigration. Attendees of the forum told him to leave, but he refused, and eventually a distressed elderly woman rushed at Trihey and attempted to punch him in the face.
The Kooyong forum incident was circulated by supporters of the anti-immigration movement online.
At the last federal election, Trihey was part of a coordinated group of neo-Nazi associates ambushing politicians on the election trail, protesting and asking about immigration.
In a post on X immediately after Thursday night’s incident, Wilson said neo-Nazis and the CFMEU had stormed the event.
Trihey denies being a neo-Nazi but is associated with members of the National Socialist Network and was a leading force behind the March For Australia rallies, where NSN members led protests. The National Workers Alliance is an ethno-nationalist and anti-migrant group.
In the video posted online, there are no visible CFMEU members or branding. But Wilson said at least one other person was wearing a CFMEU-branded T-shirt at the event. The union was contacted for comment.
Thursday night’s disruption comes as politicians report rising threats to their safety.
Far-right threats to kidnap Albanese, post bombs to mosques, secret chats reveal
The Australian Federal Police investigated 950 politically motivated threats in the 2024-25 financial year, 63 per cent up on the previous four years put together.
This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to leave The Lodge in Canberra following a bomb threat, later revealed to be a hoax.
Wilson was recently elevated to shadow treasurer in the Liberal Party reshuffle after winning back the federal seat of Goldstein by 175 votes.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/tim-wilson-s-respectful-society-forum-gatecrashed-by-white-supremacist-20260226-p5o5wf.html
Explosive Liberal election review to be suppressed
James Massola and Paul Sakkal
Updated February 27, 2026 — 3:50pm,first published 3:16pm
A contentious review into the Liberal Party’s disastrous 2025 election will be suppressed after Opposition Leader Angus Taylor met with top party figures on Friday and agreed to shelve the document.
Party elders Nick Minchin and Pru Goward spent months working on a formal review of the election, which they completed last year. The 2022 review was released publicly.
It became mired in controversy after Peter Dutton raised serious concerns over its contents in December. Dutton and figures close to him believe the report makes baseless claims about a disconnect with party headquarters.
The review contained critical reflections on the party’s policy agenda, which Taylor and deputy Jane Hume were heavily involved in as shadow treasurer and finance spokeswoman, respectively, before the last election.
Taylor attended a meeting of the party’s federal executive on Friday at which a majority of officials agreed the report and its recommendations would never be released. He will face pressure to explain why the party decided to hide recommendations that shine a spotlight on failings and offer lessons.
One source said the party had come to the view that airing its dirty linen would be politically damaging before a state election in South Australia and a federal byelection in Sussan Ley’s seat. It was not worth the pain given how much had changed in the political climate since the election, the source added.
Dutton claimed he was not given enough time to respond to some of the observations in the report, and his allies felt it was disrespectful to a former leader by blaming his office for a loss in such a public manner.
Members of the party’s federal executive also held concerns about the quality of the analysis in the review and what they deemed was a reliance on hearsay. One said it contained typos, and another claimed the amount of commentary contained in the review meant it was not worthy of public release.
“This isn’t about protecting Angus or Dutton,” one source claimed.
Other sources familiar with the document said it was sound and contained solid recommendations, but that it had more florid language and commentary than previous election reviews.
This was being used unfairly by Dutton and his allies to discredit the entire report and protect the former leader from a broad range of criticisms made of him, sources said.
Minchin and Goward’s recommendations have already been adopted by the party, giving weight to the authors’ view that their report was meritorious and should be made public.
The authors have not had a chance to respond to the concerns of party officials about the report and its quality.
The Liberal Party released a statement on Friday afternoon confirming the report would be kept under wraps but did not offer an explanation.
“The May 2025 election result was a decisive defeat. We accept that verdict. We also accept the responsibility to change,” it said. “The federal executive has decided not to publish the review. What’s important now is that we strengthen our party for the future.”
This masthead published a series of stories about elements of the report seen by the small group of officials who had read it last year. They included findings that Donald Trump’s election was a critical factor in dragging down Dutton, that a disconnect emerged between Dutton and campaign officials, and that Dutton, in his submissions to the probe, criticised the work ethic of Andrew Hastie.
One former MP who lost their seat in the 2025 wipeout, and who asked not to be named, said the decision to suppress their review was extraordinary: “It’s the worst result in 80 years and we have said ‘nothing to see here’.”
Hume, who authored the 2022 review, said last week that the party should “instinctually be on the side of transparency”.
“If there are things in that review that we can learn from, that’s terrific. But there are people that have seen the review that don’t think that it should be made public. Not because they want to keep it secret, but because they potentially don’t think it’s a good review,” she said on ABC.
Taylor’s office and the party’s head office were contacted for comment.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/explosive-liberal-election-review-to-be-suppressed-20260227-p5o642.html
A protest vote is brewing in Sussan Ley’s seat – but it won’t be simple
Natassia Chrysanthos
February 27, 2026
Like many Australians, dairy farmer Nick Flanagan finds his WhatsApp group chat is a good barometer of what people are thinking about politics.
The father of three runs a dairy farm outside Finley – a small town in the nation’s food bowl, about 660 kilometres south-west of Sydney and 280 kilometres north of Melbourne. Here, in the federal electorate of Farrer, frustration has been brewing for a long time.
Flanagan mentions one of the men in his WhatsApp chat – a second-generation farmer, like himself. “His father and him were both big Nationals followers. If you wanted an argument in the pub, he’d be the first one to step up,” Flanagan says.
“He defected to One Nation, maybe two or three months ago. He’s a registered member now.”
For farmers such as Flanagan, the list of resentments includes labour shortages, penalty rates and unreliable energy. In town, it is a shortage of childcare, health services and housing. And in this irrigation district, north of the Murray River, there’s another flashpoint: water management.
Water is an issue that provokes farmers and the communities that flourish or flail based on their success. Many feel betrayed by long-running government interventions: it started when water became a tradable commodity under John Howard, continued with the Murray Darling Basin plan under leaders of all stripes, and escalated with buybacks under Labor.
Through all this, Sussan Ley has been repeatedly elected as Farrer’s representative for the Liberals in Canberra. Now that her resignation is forcing a byelection, a switch has flicked. It’s not what Nationals leader David Littleproud or new Liberal leader Angus Taylor want to see.
“The majority of guys that I talk to would be like: ‘Yeah, f—- the Nationals, they’ve lost us.’ And that’s from being ineffective. Twenty-five years of nothing,” Flanagan says. “This has traditionally always been a Liberal-Nationals seat, and people have just lost any confidence in them.”
This disillusionment runs far deeper than the past nine months, although recent Coalition chaos in Canberra has certainly compounded it. “They’re like: these guys have got no direction. They’ve got no leadership. What the hell are they doing? Let’s try Pauline . That’s pretty as cut and dry, as I see it.”
The seat of Farrer has had four representatives in 77 years: three Liberals and one National, former deputy leader Tim Fischer. Ley won it when Fischer retired in 2001.
The sprawling electorate, at 126,563 square kilometres, fills out the south-western corner of NSW. Its largest population centre, Albury, is increasingly like inner suburban Sydney and Melbourne. But as you follow the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers inland, sheep and wheat properties give way to irrigation. The areas around Griffith and Deniliquin produce vast quantities of rice, fruit, wine grapes and almonds that feed the eastern seaboard. Head further west, and small communities give way to desert.
The politics of Farrer change with geography. The Liberals have typically dominated Albury, where about half the electorate lives. The rural and farming lands of the electorate – the other half – have been considered Nationals strongholds, although it’s been seven years since the party has even represented them at a state level.
Yet the second-generation farmer, the young doctor working in Albury and the migrant business owner in Griffith all say the same thing, as we drive around the electorate to ask about the byelection.
They feel betrayed and neglected, that nobody has listened to them. The way they deliver this message oscillates between exasperation, frustration and fury, but it is broadly consistent: the region has been ignored and it’s time for something different.
How this manifests at the ballot box, however, won’t be so simple. In usual circumstances, the byelection would be a rare showdown between the Coalition partners – with the seat vacant, they can compete against each other.
As incumbents, the Liberals should be frontrunners, although party sources concede it will be challenging. The Nationals also know people are fed up, and will pitch themselves as the strongest alternative to “lone wolves in city centric parties claiming they can do anything for us”, says Gabrielle Coupland, the party’s acting chair in Farrer.
But with the Coalition polling at historic lows, the byelection will be a test of their relevance. The battle is morphing into a four or five-cornered contest that threatens to relegate major parties further down the pile with a messy exchange of preferences.
The question is whether the Liberals will prevail in Albury against Michelle Milthorpe, a Climate 200-backed independent who has already started campaigning – and if the Nationals can pull ahead in the west while One Nation is ascending.
Independent state MP Helen Dalton, who holds an overlapping NSW seat she won from the Nationals, is also toying with running – a wildcard that would make the race even more complex.
Who, from all those, comes out on top when preferences are counted?
Campaigns will now spring into action – Ley announced her resignation on Friday – and a date will be set for the byelection. The Liberals, Nationals and One Nation will move quickly to announce their candidates, and Dalton will make her decision.
Australians watching preferences flow in Farrer for the first time will try to decode what they say about this country and the status of conservative and centre-right politics, and Taylor, Littleproud and Hanson will be graded on the results.
For the 124,000 people casting a ballot, however, the contest will be fought over local issues, shaped by local candidates, and a rare chance to send their message to the broader nation.
Volunteers in Milthorpe shirts are already handing out flyers in Albury’s city centre. Cardboard cut-outs of orange emus are appearing around town.
These were common sights just nine months ago, when the teacher and advocate against child sex abuse ran as an independent in last year’s federal election.
Milthorpe came second, helping force Ley to preferences for the first time in 25 years, and cutting her lead to 6.2 per cent. More importantly, she beat Ley in every voting booth in Albury and its suburbs, which have a population of about 60,000.
It’s a strong starting point for Milthorpe, who is backed by the Climate 200 fundraising vehicle that has helped send climate-minded independents to Canberra.
She was out the door within hours of Ley saying she would resign two weeks ago, vowing to fight again. Her volunteers stayed in touch, expecting Ley might not last the term. They’ve activated quickly: reopening a shopfront on Albury’s main street, now decorated with the orange bunting they’ve kept since May. So have Climate 200 and the Regional Voices Fund, which donated $60,000 to kickstart the campaign.
The issue that propelled Milthorpe’s success in Albury last time was the cash-strapped local hospital – jointly funded by Victoria and NSW, it reports to Victoria, and the federal government has kept out. It’s supposed to cater to 300,000 people, but bed shortages, surgery waitlists and staff burnout have hampered its capacity. Stories of charity funds spent on artwork, whistleblower complaints and exits of high-profile doctors have fuelled a sense of scandal. The hospital is being redeveloped, but Milthorpe says it’s not enough: she wants a new hospital on a new site.
Dr Lachlan McKeeman, a GP who has protested the redevelopment, has seen two families lose loved ones from cardiac arrest because they couldn’t get help in time; certain services don’t operate outside business hours. “One was lost on the way to Wagga, one was lost on the way to Melbourne,” he says. McKeeman thinks federal leaders are letting the states get away with “absolutely appalling behaviour”.
He is preparing to volunteer in his orange Milthorpe shirt, although he won’t vote in the byelection – he lives in Wodonga. The campaign is drawing in plenty of Victorians who are vested in the border town’s shared interests.
On the southern side of the Murray, which becomes the federal seat of Indi, community independents are a mainstay: Cathy McGowan pioneered the movement when she beat the Liberals in 2013. It’s now held by independent Helen Haines, who endorsed Milthorpe with independent ACT senator David Pocock on Friday.
For the Milthorpe campaign, Indi is a blueprint. “An independent understands the community aspect of it,” McKeeman says. “To steal the Indi phrase, it’s politics done differently.”
But Milthorpe will need to pull votes outside Albury to seize the seat. Her next focus is the town of Deniliquin – a southern irrigation hub, population about 7000 – where she was setting up a new office last week.
As in much of the electorate’s west, these have traditionally been Liberal voters. Ley commanded between 60 and 70 per cent of the two-party vote against Labor in Deniliquin in 2022, although this dipped into the 50s against Milthorpe last year.
That’s because of people like Rob Brown, a family business consultant. Brown loves the town he’s lived in since he was six months old – the gums that line the Edward, taking a dinghy up the river – but says the community is being challenged by the standard mix of regional service shortages: healthcare, childcare and housing.
“All those things double up, or triple up. We have a lot of young people and professionals who want to come back to Deni, but if you can’t get housing or you can’t get childcare, you can’t come back,” Brown says.
“I don’t think many people would be convinced that we’ve had the advocacy we need – that would be across a lot of rural communities. But the water stuff is another layer again.”
These complex concerns about water management, flooding and food security aren’t just held by farmers – farming benefits flow into local economies and communities, bringing commerce, schools, health services and government funding into the area.
Brown’s frustration, like many others, has been mounting. He once handed out how-to-votes for Ley, but at the last election sent his vote elsewhere to send a message to major parties he feels are point scoring rather than pursuing serious change.
“I think the Liberals are looking like an old boys’ club with policies that disregard science and evidence,” he says. “Milthorpe’s the only one, at this point. Because it’s her second hit, she’s more likely to be heard, if she can work out how to craft her water policy – to say we just need to breathe, stop these buybacks, and do a rigorous assessment of what works.”
Milthorpe has strengthened her message on water since last year. “We’ve got farming communities that are pretty much on their knees,” she tells this masthead.
“They’re being screwed with water policy, and we’ve got generational farmers who are thinking about selling their farms … I will definitely be calling for a royal commission.”
This message still needs to reach, and convince, the likes of Louise Burge – a well-known farmer around Deniliquin who’s campaigned in the community and Canberra for decades. At one point, she was a senior official with the NSW Farmers Association – an organisation whose members have historically overlapped with the Nationals.
Aged 67, Burge sees the optimism of her parent’s generation dissipating. She thinks the city and country have become more distant as Australia urbanises, resulting in regional health failures and a problematic renewable energy fallout. What makes her tear up, though, is recalling memories of lost crops or 1200 dead sheep because of flooding she links to water mismanagement in Canberra.
“There’s not a lot of understanding within the political fields, and also the bureaucratic fields, about what policy means when it’s applied to a regional area. That has bred the discontent that is now evident in Farrer,” she says.
Burge thinks the Liberal vote has held for 25 years because there’s been no alternative. “This is a conservative electorate, they are terrified of Labor and the Greens – absolutely terrified,” she says.
But with the byelection bringing new candidates and national attention, Burge anticipates a protest vote. “I will be a swing voter. I was a conservative voter going back years, but what I’ve seen throughout this long period of time is symptomatic of a bigger problem in Australia,” Burge says.
When we interview Burge at a Deniliquin hotel on Tuesday evening, there is, coincidentally, a Milthorpe meet-and-greet happening in the next room. She stays to hear what the candidate has to say.
Over in Griffith, a growing city of 27,000 people, Rob Dowton is not giving Milthorpe any thought. “I’m not a fan,” he says, behind the counter of the gun shop where he works. “She’s probably a nice person, but she’s sitting on the wrong side of the fence – she’s a teal. We don’t need any more of them, trying to control the country.”
It’s a label Milthorpe is trying hard to shake. “I’m not a teal and I can’t relate to that, because they can’t relate to our context,” she says of inner-city independents. She likens herself to Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie.
But there’s another option for these sceptical voters.
One Nation has been surging in opinion polls since the May election, and is now usurping the Coalition in most surveys. After the South Australian election, Farrer’s byelection will be the first indication of whether this converts at the ballot box. The party has narrowed its candidate list from 81 to four, sources said.
Last year’s One Nation result in Farrer was roughly on par with the national average, at 6.6 per cent of the primary vote, although it ran higher in some western booths. Whether Hanson brings in new voters on election day will determine whether the minor party makes inroads into federal parliament.
Dowton, who lives in nearby Leeton, could be one of them. “I was a Sussan Ley fan, but from what has come out in the last three or four months, we need to find someone that’s going to stand up for the electorate.” New gun laws are one push factor – but it’s not just the firearms issue. “It’s water policies, it’s roads, everything,” he says.
“We need a shake up from what we’ve been dealt for the last 20 years. I think a bit of fresh blood, if it’s One Nation, would be good for the country. We’re stale, and too many people are too comfortable with what’s been happening, election after election … I don’t know if it’s just Labor. I think it’s what came before that, as well.”
He sees the Coalition has been trying to turn things around in the last few weeks, but he’s not buying it. And the defection of Barnaby Joyce to One Nation adds credibility, in Dowton’s mind. “He’s a cocky himself, a cattle farmer up in the New England region, so he gets it,” he says.
“All these politicians in central Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong area – I don’t think they understand what’s actually happening out here. And I don’t think they care, to an extent. City areas are where they’re going to get majority. We’ve been left behind out in regional NSW.”
Norm Carl, a publican in Gerogery, outside of Albury, heard that sentiment when One Nation had an event at his pub two weeks ago. About 300 people showed up. He describes them as “real country, normal, elderly people who’d had enough”. At least half were over 60, and the same proportion were farmers. “They could have been here to watch a tractor display.”
Carl thinks many voters will be scared to pull the trigger on something new because people are weary of change – himself included, particularly when it comes to independents. Although he suspects that could be where things are headed, as independents consolidate their hold on neighbouring seats at a state level.“Country people like country people. Country people also like no bullshit. I think it’s extremely important to people in the country that they know and trust the candidate,” he says.
Helen Dalton, the independent state MP, comes up often in conversations about good candidates. One Nation has been sounding her out.
The farmer from Yenda, just outside Griffith, has since 2019 represented the NSW seat of Murray – an electorate whose 110,000 square kilometres largely overlap the 126,000 square kilometres of Farrer; almost the entire electorate outside of Albury.
“The rise of One Nation is culminating because people are incredibly unhappy with the direction in which our country is going,” Dalton tells this masthead.
“People are discontented with both Labor and the Coalition, they’re looking for someone who’s going to speak their mind, and unscripted. That’s what they say: ‘Well, at least Pauline’s having a go’.”
Dalton will shake up the race if she runs, but she’s keeping her cards close to her chest until after Ley resigns. She hasn’t ruled anything in or out – including whether she will stand for One Nation, or on her own.
However, she knows the chaos of minor parties. Dalton was a Nationals member, until they knocked her back for preselection. Then she ran for Murray under the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers banner, and snatched the seat from the Nationals in 2019.
“That ended in tears,” she says, referring to her becoming an independent in 2022. “Obviously, I’m not a great party person, because I can’t follow a stupid policy and that’s it.”
Dalton boosted her result as an independent at the 2023 state election, winning 50.2 per cent of first preferences. In a two-candidate race with the Nationals, it came to 66-34. If this held up in a federal contest, it would put Dalton in strong contention.
Her profile is smaller around Albury, which is held safely at a state level by Liberal MP Justin Clancy. She can, however, campaign with runs on the board from her time in NSW parliament.
After successfully pushing for a NSW royal commission into water, and greater transparency laws around water ownership, Dalton wants both these things at federal level. She also mentions the need for new dams, better water treatment plants, fully staffed hospitals, and reliable digital connectivity.
“People are coming into my office begging me to run for One Nation,” she says.
“Mind you, I get quite the opposite view from others as well … I think there’s a lot of hype , but I think if there’s another good candidate somewhere, people will be voting for them.”
One of Hanson’s messages that won’t gel everywhere in Farrer is her hardline stance on zero immigration. It’s particularly jarring in Griffith, one of the most culturally diverse cities in regional Australia.
Both Griffith and nearby Leeton were purpose-built horticultural and agricultural towns that brought in Italian settlers. These days, they’re home to many Indian and Pacific migrants, as well as refugees.
Manjit Lally, who owns the local newsagent and sat on the council, is on the lookout for good policy. He doesn’t think the major parties are serving it up – but nor is One Nation. “They blame immigration for everything,” he says.
“But particularly in Griffith, we have 59 migrant communities living here, who have never had an issue. Myself, I’ve been living here 26 years … We are the food bowl of Australia, we need workers. Nobody comes this way from the cities, everyone’s going to unis and the big institutions, not the farms. Who else can do the work?”
It’s a conundrum that also faces Flanagan, the farmer from Finley, as he contemplates his vote. Workers from Kenya, Indonesia and Malaysia keep his business viable.
“The migrant freezing stuff I think is a little bit too heavy-handed and it’s a bit like Trump and his tariffs,” he says. “I think if Pauline looked into it, or One Nation looked into it, they’d understand that we need this skilled labour. We need these people in our rural areas to support the businesses.”
Flanagan will probably vote for Dalton if she runs; he says she understands what farmers are facing. “She’s built the trust among a lot of people in the area,” he says.
But whoever he chooses, it’s unlikely to be the Liberals or Nationals. “The generation older than me were probably more rusted on to the Nats, but people my age are more open,” he says. “And once you change – it’s like changing tractors – you don’t go back.”
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/a-protest-vote-is-brewing-in-sussan-ley-s-seat-but-it-won-t-be-simple-20260226-p5o5my.html
Liberal Party will not publish its internal review into the 2025 election loss
ABC news piece. Amusing…
buffy said:
Liberal Party will not publish its internal review into the 2025 election loss
ABC news piece. Amusing…
didn’t they already do this like 2 months ago
SCIENCE said:
buffy said:
Liberal Party will not publish its internal review into the 2025 election loss
ABC news piece. Amusing…
didn’t they already do this like 2 months ago
Nah, Dutton claimed it was defamatory a couple of months ago. (I know this because I just read the ABC piece. I’d forgotten about it)
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:buffy said:
Liberal Party will not publish its internal review into the 2025 election loss
ABC news piece. Amusing…
didn’t they already do this like 2 months ago
Nah, Dutton claimed it was defamatory a couple of months ago. (I know this because I just read the ABC piece. I’d forgotten about it)
Surely someone will leak a public copy.
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:
didn’t they already do this like 2 months ago
Nah, Dutton claimed it was defamatory a couple of months ago. (I know this because I just read the ABC piece. I’d forgotten about it)
Surely someone will leak a public copy.
sorry we blame our distracted memory
perhaps they can just release a redacted one
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:
Nah, Dutton claimed it was defamatory a couple of months ago. (I know this because I just read the ABC piece. I’d forgotten about it)
Surely someone will leak a public copy.
sorry we blame our distracted memory
perhaps they can just release a redacted one
Probably consisted of three words “We have nothing”
buffy said:
Liberal Party will not publish its internal review into the 2025 election lossABC news piece. Amusing…
Leak leak leak
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/27/manifesto-planning-mass-casualties-allegedly-found-at-home-of-wa-man-charged-with-planning-terror-attack-ntwnfb
Police in Western Australia have charged a 20-year-old man with preparing a terrorist attack, with Anthony Albanese describing the allegation as “deeply shocking”.
The man was charged with acting in preparation for a terrorist act, possessing a prohibited weapon, two firearms offences and using a carriage service to menace or harass.
In a statement on Friday, the Western Australia joint counter-terrorism team said they had been investigating the man’s online activities as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitic, Islamophobic and racially motivated online hate speech.
dv said:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/27/manifesto-planning-mass-casualties-allegedly-found-at-home-of-wa-man-charged-with-planning-terror-attack-ntwnfbPolice in Western Australia have charged a 20-year-old man with preparing a terrorist attack, with Anthony Albanese describing the allegation as “deeply shocking”.
The man was charged with acting in preparation for a terrorist act, possessing a prohibited weapon, two firearms offences and using a carriage service to menace or harass.
In a statement on Friday, the Western Australia joint counter-terrorism team said they had been investigating the man’s online activities as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitic, Islamophobic and racially motivated online hate speech.
It’s nice to see someone willing to help the Jewish and Muslim communities realise they have so much in common.
dv said:
Police in Western Australia have charged a 20-year-old man with preparing a terrorist attack, with Anthony Albanese describing the allegation as “deeply shocking”.
The man was charged with acting in preparation for a terrorist act, possessing a prohibited weapon, two firearms offences and using a carriage service to menace or harass.
In a statement on Friday, the Western Australia joint counter-terrorism team said they had been investigating the man’s online activities as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitic, Islamophobic and racially motivated online hate speech.
yeah can’t find it now but we encountered another of Their ABC articles where they said ASIO or whatever had the threat level at over 50% that there would be a terrorist attack or planning for such in the next year
which seemed pointless and silly we mean we would have estimated the probability of there being planning for such an attack in the next year at ~1 so it wasn’t particularly informative
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
Police in Western Australia have charged a 20-year-old man with preparing a terrorist attack, with Anthony Albanese describing the allegation as “deeply shocking”.
The man was charged with acting in preparation for a terrorist act, possessing a prohibited weapon, two firearms offences and using a carriage service to menace or harass.
In a statement on Friday, the Western Australia joint counter-terrorism team said they had been investigating the man’s online activities as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitic, Islamophobic and racially motivated online hate speech.
yeah can’t find it now but we encountered another of Their ABC articles where they said ASIO or whatever had the threat level at over 50% that there would be a terrorist attack or planning for such in the next year
which seemed pointless and silly we mean we would have estimated the probability of there being planning for such an attack in the next year at ~1 so it wasn’t particularly informative
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-26/albanese-bomb-threat-political-violence-data/106384704
Australia’s general terrorism threat level has been set at “Probable” since August 2024. At this level, Australia’s security services put the chance of an onshore attack — or attack planning — in the next 12 months at greater than 50 per cent. When upgrading the threat level, ASIO cited “a move from specific extremist ideology to ‘hybrid’ ideologies” and “faster radicalisation” of possible perpetrators of terrorism in Australia.
sure but we thought this is free democratic Australia, surely capitalism should be celebrated
Rich: You’re not being charitable. You are doing it to earn money for your employer, correct?
Carroll: I disagree. My personal view is I do care about the customer.
Rich: It’s about the customer because you know that if you don’t please the customer, your employer will lose their business, correct?
Carroll: Correct.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-28/coles-down-down-accc-court-battle-prices/106382746
wait so uh competition is good right
Competition led to Coles shortening the amount of time it established a higher price before it was discounted — down to four weeks under its internal policies known as “guardrails”. The guardrails were designed to ensure shoppers weren’t misled by prices rising and falling too quickly. But Coles was desperate to move quicker because it was watching arch-rival Woolworths do exactly that and feared being left behind.
but that being the case then they can’t really lose, can they
Coles boss Leah Weckert and her executive faced a tough decision. Should they roll over and settle like other major companies had — forking out for a huge fine, or should they stand firm and fight?
if it’s competition then if they get fkd for doing what their competitor is doing why can’t they just point over there and say fk them too
SCIENCE said:
sure but we thought this is free democratic Australia, surely capitalism should be celebrated
Rich: You’re not being charitable. You are doing it to earn money for your employer, correct?
Carroll: I disagree. My personal view is I do care about the customer.
Rich: It’s about the customer because you know that if you don’t please the customer, your employer will lose their business, correct?
Carroll: Correct.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-28/coles-down-down-accc-court-battle-prices/106382746
wait so uh competition is good right
Competition led to Coles shortening the amount of time it established a higher price before it was discounted — down to four weeks under its internal policies known as “guardrails”. The guardrails were designed to ensure shoppers weren’t misled by prices rising and falling too quickly. But Coles was desperate to move quicker because it was watching arch-rival Woolworths do exactly that and feared being left behind.
but that being the case then they can’t really lose, can they
Coles boss Leah Weckert and her executive faced a tough decision. Should they roll over and settle like other major companies had — forking out for a huge fine, or should they stand firm and fight?
if it’s competition then if they get fkd for doing what their competitor is doing why can’t they just point over there and say fk them too
damn should have read to the bottom
Consumer law expert Jeannie Paterson was another keen observer of the case. Even if its customers are disgusted by what’s come out, they have few viable alternatives for groceries, according to Paterson. Together with Woolworths, Coles has almost two-thirds of the market cornered and Woolies is facing another almost identical lawsuit. “The idea that customers are going to flock away from Coles, where do they go?” Coles decided this bruising court battle was worth it and it’s got the scars to prove it.
so why is the Coles one all over the news and the Wo’l‘es one hush hush
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
sure but we thought this is free democratic Australia, surely capitalism should be celebrated
Rich: You’re not being charitable. You are doing it to earn money for your employer, correct?
Carroll: I disagree. My personal view is I do care about the customer.
Rich: It’s about the customer because you know that if you don’t please the customer, your employer will lose their business, correct?
Carroll: Correct.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-28/coles-down-down-accc-court-battle-prices/106382746
wait so uh competition is good right
Competition led to Coles shortening the amount of time it established a higher price before it was discounted — down to four weeks under its internal policies known as “guardrails”. The guardrails were designed to ensure shoppers weren’t misled by prices rising and falling too quickly. But Coles was desperate to move quicker because it was watching arch-rival Woolworths do exactly that and feared being left behind.
but that being the case then they can’t really lose, can they
Coles boss Leah Weckert and her executive faced a tough decision. Should they roll over and settle like other major companies had — forking out for a huge fine, or should they stand firm and fight?
if it’s competition then if they get fkd for doing what their competitor is doing why can’t they just point over there and say fk them too
damn should have read to the bottom
Consumer law expert Jeannie Paterson was another keen observer of the case. Even if its customers are disgusted by what’s come out, they have few viable alternatives for groceries, according to Paterson. Together with Woolworths, Coles has almost two-thirds of the market cornered and Woolies is facing another almost identical lawsuit. “The idea that customers are going to flock away from Coles, where do they go?” Coles decided this bruising court battle was worth it and it’s got the scars to prove it.
so why is the Coles one all over the news and the Wo’l‘es one hush hush
It’s not hush-hush.
I knew that Woolies are being pursued for similar practices. It’s likely I read it in the ABC News. And it made sufficient impression that I remember it.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
sure but we thought this is free democratic Australia, surely capitalism should be celebrated
Rich: You’re not being charitable. You are doing it to earn money for your employer, correct?
Carroll: I disagree. My personal view is I do care about the customer.
Rich: It’s about the customer because you know that if you don’t please the customer, your employer will lose their business, correct?
Carroll: Correct.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-28/coles-down-down-accc-court-battle-prices/106382746
wait so uh competition is good right
Competition led to Coles shortening the amount of time it established a higher price before it was discounted — down to four weeks under its internal policies known as “guardrails”. The guardrails were designed to ensure shoppers weren’t misled by prices rising and falling too quickly. But Coles was desperate to move quicker because it was watching arch-rival Woolworths do exactly that and feared being left behind.
but that being the case then they can’t really lose, can they
Coles boss Leah Weckert and her executive faced a tough decision. Should they roll over and settle like other major companies had — forking out for a huge fine, or should they stand firm and fight?
if it’s competition then if they get fkd for doing what their competitor is doing why can’t they just point over there and say fk them too
damn should have read to the bottom
Consumer law expert Jeannie Paterson was another keen observer of the case. Even if its customers are disgusted by what’s come out, they have few viable alternatives for groceries, according to Paterson. Together with Woolworths, Coles has almost two-thirds of the market cornered and Woolies is facing another almost identical lawsuit. “The idea that customers are going to flock away from Coles, where do they go?” Coles decided this bruising court battle was worth it and it’s got the scars to prove it.
so why is the Coles one all over the news and the Wo’l‘es one hush hush
It’s not hush-hush.
I knew that Woolies are being pursued for similar practices. It’s likely I read it in the ABC News. And it made sufficient impression that I remember it.
yeah maybe it’s just our echo chamber stove pipe silo but seriously this is the first ABC result when we searched for Woolworths court case over prices
Here’s an extract from the ABC’s news in depth podcast series called Black Swans. Dealing with predictions for the future from the 1950s and seeing how things turned out. One of the topics covered was population and how everyone was fearing the human population would outstrip our ability to produce enough food.
Here is a rather chilling recommendation on how governments might reduce the birth rate.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SXTyN3m4Cb4
linky
I just wanted to share this. Only goes for about a minute.
It seems like we have achieved this outcome without even trying. What was considered shocking and unethical back in the day.
how could this cute young fella be
mentioned in this article
https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-leaked-election-review-slates-dutton-while-highlighting-liberals-longer-term-intractable-problems-277243
Before Christmas former leader Peter Dutton had a hissy fit about the assessment of him in the review, done by former federal minister Nick Minchin and former New South Wales minister Pru Goward. That led to some changes, although it’s hard to imagine how the original version could have been tougher on his disastrous performance.
The picture that emerges is of an autocrat who distrusted and shut out others from their proper roles before and during the election, but who then could not deliver results.
The first of the review’s recommendations is blunt: “The Party must never again allow the Parliamentary Leader and Office to effectively run the campaign.
“The Federal Director is the Campaign Director and must have overall responsibility for the conduct of the campaign.
—-
Well I don’t think anyone would say Dutton ran it effectively.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Israel’s destroyed schools, aid facilities, etc in Gaza so obviously don’t value innocent human life
Not saying Iran does either but they can’t claim moral superiority.
Dehumanising the enemy as not having human feelings, desires, etc is part of waging war.
look at least in the USSA they keep them as sex slaves and snuff film actors and school shooting target kits
Sometimes I do wonder if too much freedom causes problems as humans aren’t mature enough to use it responsible.
well they’ve left out the important thing though
the alleged terrorist, is he muslim or not
then we’ll know whether they’re just allegations or proven fact
FWIW a copy of the LNP report on their massacre in the last election.
I’m still looking for a more readable copy.
Highlights from the leaked report.
“Other submissions criticised the lack of policies relevant to women’s interests, or marketing which targeted men, not women. Several female candidates told us that Peter Dutton was disliked by women and asked for him not to visit their electorates. The policies were also seen as female-unfriendly. At least one regional candidate considered the Working from Home policy was the turning point which cost her the seat. “
“Mindful of the political destructiveness of disunity, those MPs who spoke to us consistently admitted they did not challenge a policy direction when they should, nor did they seek party-room debate on contentious issues, over the term. Recollections vary; some MPs believed they had self-censored, keen to preserve unity and avoid damaging leaks from the party room. Others believed dissent and debate were actively discouraged by the Leader or dismissed by the Opposition Leader’s chief of staff without further inquiry. One MP said he told the Opposition Leader during a party room meeting that he did not agree with a policy position and was told he could leave the Party if that was how he felt.”
“However, the Working From Home Policy, which removed the right of Commonwealth public servants to work from home, was announced in March 2025, before the campaign began. This policy was reportedly not taken to the Party Room, nor provided in advance to the Federal Secretariat so that it could be qualitatively tested. Memories vary on who approved it. The policy was reversed a month later. Similarly, the nuclear power policy to develop a government-owned nuclear power program, while released mid-year 2024, did not release its costings (estimated $331B) until December 2024.”
