Deja vu.
This time last year we bemoaned that:
We can all agree that politically, 2017 was a boring year: 365 days of nothing but the monotony of watching a woeful government led by a spineless prime minister simply meandering aimlessly along.
Well not much changed in 2018, though we did have to endure a “spineless prime minister” for only half the year. As we close the year we ponder if we went from bad (Turnbull) to worse (Morrison).
But that’s all in the future. This article is about the year just past.
Each year we publish a list of our five most popular articles for that year. (The Top 5 is based on the number of views only. It does not take into account the number of comments or the post’s popularity with other online media sites such as Facebook or Twitter).
Here are The AIMN’s five most popular posts in 2018:
Number 1: The truth bomb that terrifies Turnbull, by Victoria Rollison.
Malcolm Turnbull was enraged over an Emma Alberici article – on the ABC, mind you – that destroyed his argument that company tax-cuts would trickle-down for the greater good. How dare the ABC question his signature policy!
While Turnbull would have us believe that his anger was directed at the ABC, Victoria questioned the real reason for his anger: that his policy was based on a lie. And he knew it. Better still … we knew it.
Excerpt:
There is mass outrage today at the news that Turnbull has pressured the ABC to take down and censor parts of an article by Emma Alberici which analysed how little tax some of Australia’s largest companies pay. This story reeks of a scandalous government intervention in a publicly owned free press … There is no compelling evidence that giving the country’s biggest companies a tax cut sees that money passed on to workers in the form of higher wages … The truth is, Turnbull is terrified the lie is no longer believable. And it’s no longer believable because workers are waking up to the reality that their Point Piper millionaire PM, who uses tax havens to ensure wealth created through the labour of workers doesn’t come back to the community, who uses the power of government to make rules enabling other millionaires to steal wealth from workers, is actually lying to them … I have long said that once workers realise wealth doesn’t trickle down, right wing governments will never be elected again. Turnbull knows this too. So, he can censor all he likes, but editing an ABC news article is akin to pissing in the ocean when the waves of change are building like a truth-tsunami. Bring it on.
Number 2: Australian Psychological Society Medicare review submission betrays members and clients, by Eva Cripps.
It’s good to see Eva in the Top 5, and didn’t she cause a stir with this one! “Journalism at its best,” as one commenter noted.
Excerpt:
The Australian Psychological Society’s (APS) submission to the Commonwealth Government’s Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) review is an astonishing attempt to restrict access to psychology services for the most vulnerable of Australians. The submission, which was only made available to APS members on Friday, 17 August 2018, represents a kick in the guts to over 60% of Australian psychologists, who may have their ability to provide affordable and accessible services to clients with complex mental health needs significantly reduced … Each year in Australia, approximately one in five people will experience a mental illness. However a recent national survey showed that only 35% of people with a mental disorder had accessed a health service within the 12 months before the survey. If accepted by Minister Hunt, the APS proposal will have the effect of funneling vital health funding to psychologists preferenced because of their privilege/access to higher education, rather than to those with proven and demonstrated skills at treating clients with complex mental health issues.
Number 3: If You Missed Scott Morrison’s Concession Speech, by Rossleigh.
Rossleigh has published over 1,000 articles on The AIMN, and in all bar one he has displayed his remarkable skills as a satirist. A skill he is well-known for!
This article was his “bar one”. Gone was the satire, but the short article was still just as amusing, where he compared Scott Morrison to Monty Python (the video reveals all).
Excerpt:
… after telling us that the Liberals were angry – meaning the voters – he then said that the Liberals – meaning the party he leads – would win the next election because of what they believed. He then reminded us that there’ll be a fair go for those who have a go and the best form of welfare is a job and … Yes, you get the idea.
Number 4: The LNP Welfare Card: the true facts exposed. Corruption disguised as philanthropy!, by Michael Griffin.
This is the second year in a row that guest author MIchael Griffin has made the Top 5, and as with last year, he talks about the Welfare Card and asks the eternal question: is it a rort?
Excerpt:
Setting up networks of corporations and trusts is standard practice for those wishing to conceal their involvement in an enterprise or operation and is often engaged to shield the identity of those involvement in that enterprise … This is the real purpose of the LNP determination to adopt and expand the Welfare Card programme, that is, to obtain donations for the financially stressed LNP and to aid its supporters, donors and members … Unfortunately, with the very weak democracy we have in Australia, there is no way to hold those involved in this scam to account or to have any corruption independently investigated or prosecuted at a federal level. No federal ICAC or anti-corruption body exists. Only the Federal Police can investigate corruption as the criminal offence of defrauding the Commonwealth. Given that the Federal Police are controlled by the LNP Government and beholding to the LNP Government for their funding, and given the LNP and its cronies are the beneficiaries of the card programme, any such investigation by the Federal Police is unlikely to ever occur.
Number 5: The people are getting uppity and Scott doesn’t like it, by Kaye Lee.
The Top 5 wouldn’t be complete without Kaye Lee occupying a place.
In this article Kaye took rightful issue in PM Morrison’s defence of all that is wrong with his government, namely, policies that ‘encourage’ inequality. How can you possibly defend inequality? Morrison tried, and took umbrage that we dare question it.
This article was Kaye at her cheeky best.
Excerpt:
When the crossbench moved to end the shameful practice of holding innocent people hostage in the pretence that this is a valid way to keep our borders secure, Scott Morrison went ballistic … The Coalition cannot understand why people are not satisfied with the fact that some people are getting much richer. Company profits are at record highs after all. Women and children should be happy that the men are taking care of things. Indigenous folk should recognise how much better off they are since the white man took control. And gays should be thankful we no longer lock them up … How about those pesky kids, missing school to express their anger and despair at the older generation’s inaction on climate change. They must have been put up to it by radical lefty socialist teachers. They should be in school doing some rote learning about how wonderful Western civilisation is rather than emulating the dole bludgers by protesting … That young lady who wrote to the PM about her disappointment at the standard of behaviour in parliament should stop worrying her little head about grownup tactics that she couldn’t possibly understand.
For every article that makes the annual Top 5, there are dozens that on another day could have taken their place. Nonetheless, congratulations to those authors that topped the list this year, and congratulations too for the outstanding contributions from the dozens of authors who have published – or had their articles published – on The AIMN in 2018.
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