By 2353NM

No, we’re not getting in early for that date at the end of January. Although there is considerable substance to the claim from First Nations People that Australia had a civilisation long before Arthur Philip turned up with a number of ships and people that were a social problem the English decided to export rather than manage.

What we are talking about is the ridiculous hyperbole from the likes of US media commentator Candace Owens or US Senator Ted Cruz suggesting that Australians are living under the yoke of a totalitarian regime that rivals the Taliban or Nazi Germany. They seem to be questioning if the US should invade Australia to restore ‘freedom’. Apparently implementing restrictions such as lockdowns, capacity limits, mandatory vaccinations and wearing masks as countermeasures to minimise the effects of a pandemic on our society is just as offensive as gun control and universal health care to the conservatives in the USA.

The Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, Michael Gunner recently mandated vaccinations for a majority of the NT’s workforce. US Senator Ted Cruz wasn’t impressed and commented on Gunner’s social media message. The exchange is worth a read and one report is here which shows that those with an axe to grind won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I love the Aussies. Their history of rugged independence is legendary; I’ve always said Australia is the Texas of the Pacific.

The Covid tyranny of their current government is disgraceful & sad.

Individual liberty matters.

I stand with the people of #Australia https://t.co/9elCF0KRA3

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 13, 2021

It’s an interesting proposition when human life is apparently not as important as claimed civil rights. Like the right to keep an assault rifle behind the seat of the ‘pickup truck’ just in case there is an armed rebellion that you have to help suppress which occurs in the time it takes you to pop down to the shops to get some milk. Or the right not to do something as simple as wearing a mask and staying home so that those with a highly transmissible illness can be found and looked after in an appropriate health care environment without spreading their illness to others. The discussion for another time is around the cost of treatment in an appropriate environment is probably also prohibitive to a good percentage of the US population.

Unfortunately, the American Conservatives aren’t the only ones that prefer to promote the story rather than the facts. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has claimed that fossil fuels are Australia’s largest export, resurrecting poor old Hanrahan to bleat and complain about how change will only cause ruin and destruction to our way of life. Pity he’s wrong – iron ore is the largest export from Australia and if we play our cards correctly, not only can we continue to dig it up, we could value add and turn it into ‘green steel’ before it goes overseas. Selling the finished product contributes far more to our economy than shipping the raw material and then propping up someone else’s economy to value add prior to sending some of the steel back to us at a profit.

Deputy Nationals Leader Bridget McKenzie is no better. McKenzie, who’s behaviour in doling out sporting grants to organisations that were usually located in marginal Coalition seats was too much even for Prime Minister Morrison to stomach, claimed that 54,000 people were employed in the the thermal coal mining industry. Again the assertion is wrong, but it demonstrates to the estimated 38,000 or thereabouts people working in the overall coal industry in Australia (data from the 2017/8 Financial Year – the latest information available) that the Nationals are more interested in the mining vote than their traditional supporters.

The real problem is polarisation. Regardless of your point of view, no one is totally correct and the ‘other side’ of a discussion sometimes has a good point. We on this side of the Pacific shake our heads and wonder how people in the USA with guns are allowed to massacre people so frequently that it’s not even the headline for the day. On that side of the Pacific, apparently they are concerned that the majority of us comply with health regulations to minimise the impact of a pandemic without large scale rioting in the streets. We all know what rioting on the street can do – remember the US Capitol last January?

While some will never change, that doesn’t mean that change is impossible for all. Next time you feel like insulting someone who expresses a view different to your own, instead of thinking up a ‘clever but sarcastic’ name and trolling them on social media or in the comments below an article on a website – stop and think. Does it add value or are you as bad as Joyce, McKenzie or (perish the thought) Cruz and Evans who don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story (or their prejudices)? Promote your point of view certainly, but trolling and name calling drags you down to their level where they can beat you with experience.

And by the way, Conservative USA, we’d rather you consider increasing the perceived value of every human life in your country and dragging your political system out of the gutter created by your immediate past President than worrying about us ‘Down Under’. There is no need to send the Pacific Fleet and thousands of troops to invade Australia. We’re fine – really!

What do you think?

By Denis Bright

The festival of Diwali has become a unifying cultural and religious festival across the Indian Subcontinent and the global Indian diaspora.

On the Indian Subcontinent, it is a festival of light and enlightenment as winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere. Diwali has generated very diverse epic stories amongst mainstream Hindus, Punjabis, Jains and Sikhs. The appeal of Diwali also extends to some other religious communities. It is welcomed by Indian political leaders and the marketing divisions of internal soft drink manufacturers.

With the BJP’s huge majority in the Indian parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to relate Diwali to mainstream political life in India. Dressed in Army fatigues, PM Modi used Diwali to promote claims for Indian control of Jammu and Kashmir (4 November 2021):

It is written in our scriptures: को अतिभारः समर्थानाम।

That is, the overburden does not matter to the one who is capable, he easily realizes his resolutions. Therefore, we need to increase our military power according to the changing world, the changing nature of war. They also have to be moulded with new strength. We have to adapt our preparations according to this rapid change taking place in the world. At one time, battles were fought with elephants and horses. Now no one can imagine this because the form has changed. Earlier, it might have taken decades, maybe centuries, to change the form of war. Today, the method of fighting changes from morning to evening because of rapid technology. Today’s art of warfare is not limited to the modus operandi of operations. Today, better coordination of different aspects, use of technology and hybrid tactics can make a huge difference.

Scott Morrison’s Diwali greetings did not make it to PM Modi’s web site. It is a communication directed at Australian Indian communities. It is worth reading as an opportunistic message of goodwill to an important section of the Australian community (SBS Punjabi Network 3 November 2021).

Scott Morrison’s media team are aware of the importance of strategic ties with the Modi Government and our vital defence ties with Fiji that has an important place in the wider Indian diaspora.

Immigration from the Indian subcontinent has long diversified Australian life. The prehistoric settlement of Australia is linked to the low sea levels associated with global cooling from volcanic eruptions including the Toba Crater Lake in Sumatra around 74,000 years ago (Kya):

Contemporary coverage of Indian communities focuses on very recent immigrations from the Indian Subcontinent during the colonial period and the turn of the current century (ABS Census data 2016). The Australian Indian community is well represented in Sydney and regional NSW.

The Diwali traditions to promote the victory of of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance can assist in rejuvenating global politics with a new style of progressive moral leadership goals beyond winning the next election` through rhetorical tricks and fear strategies.

There is no universal Indian Diwali epic as explained by the Conversation (Updated to 26 October 2021). In the Sikh traditions, Diwali celebrates the release from prison of the sixth guru Hargobind (BBC 20 October 2020). Mainstream Hindus have developed other epic sagas. Lord Rama returned to his family after defeating Ravana in Lanka.

Across the Diwali traditions, Indians enjoy fireworks, candles, family feasts as well as the exchange of gifts and sweets.

Such innocent traditions can be contaminated by political jingoism as shown by the self-promotional rituals of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (The Print, 9 November 2021):

Civilian leaders in military uniform are an attraction unmatched by any other clothing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worn one every Diwali since the India-China confrontation at Doklam in 2017. This year, he spent some time with the Army and addressed troops at Jammu’s Rajouri, not far from the Line of Control. He was dressed in an Army camouflage jacket and a red-banded hat, worn by Colonels and above. He wore an Indian Army emblem as the crownpiece, so to say, in the middle of the red band around the hat. No rank badges were worn.

The Prime Minister’s oratorical skills and the speech delivered in his inimitable style would have touched the hearts of the troops and uplifted their morale. ‘We are lucky to have a leader like Modi’ would perhaps be a lasting memory for those who saw him in flesh and blood. Even for those who would see it on video, and especially for the millions of his supporters across the world, it would have had a similar effect.

The political values of a whole subcontinent and a global diaspora cannot be changed in a decade. PM Modi’s media team is well aware of diverse interpretations of Diwali across the Indian Subcontinent. Not all sections of the Indian community are onside with PM Modi’s personality cult and new defence ties with Israel and the US Global Military Alliance.

India was still represented at the recent Non-Aligned Summit (NAM) in Belgrade, Serbia with over one hundred countries plus observers as well as regional associations and voluntary organizations. This year’s NAM Summit attracted observers from Russia and China. Virtually all countries in Africa are NAM members.

The guiding principles of NAM have a moral appeal which is always being compromised by great powers. Some member countries of course strongly compromise their NAM principles in favour of militarism and excessive nationalism.

Diwali traditions of seeking enlightenment and recovery from darker times are strongly compromised by global warming and involvement in the nuclear arms race which offers humankind the penultimate form of global warming through nuclear warfare.

Such challenges should confront the Indian BJP’s commitment to national aggrandizement as distractions from the plight of working people across India from income inequality and pollution of the country’s most sacred rivers.

This year’s Diwali and NAM Summit coincided with the most spectacular light show in the night sky from the aurora australis in parts of Southern Australia. Pics and videos available on the ABC News site (5 November 2021). The dark skies associated with the arrival of the new moon contributed to the intensity of this year’s aurora. Solar flares were an even more significant factor. The Aurora Borealis was also active across the northern hemisphere.

Locally, Anthony Hearsey has impressed visitors to the QUT Museum in Brisbane with cosmic space images. These images add new dimensions to an awareness of cycles that promote an interest in alternatives to environmental degradation.

Diwali has even brought people on the Subcontinent closer to this degradation. 2020 brought an upsurge in COVID-infections across India. This year the main problem is air pollutions from literally millions of candles and lamps in major Indian cities as well as the pollution of sacred rivers.

The Indian Government chooses the dark path of acquiring more weapons of mass destruction. Details of the current balance of nuclear terror have been made available by the Arms Control Association:

While India and Pakistan have an agreement against first strike use of nuclear weapons, the militarization of India with support from Israel and other members of the US Global Alliance is a source of strategic instability in the Indo Pacific Region. It invites closer ties between Pakistan and other arms suppliers. Details of India’s strategic arms build-up is provided in The Wire (26 December 2020).

As a responsible middle power, Australia should be working for peace on the Subcontinent as its BJP Government seems hell-bent on acquiring more weapons of mass destruction in this COVID-19 era and playing with targets for carbon and methane emissions that see Australia siding with India, China and Russia in demanding further delays of impending 2030 responses to control global warming.

The federal LNP’s version of moral political values is hardly about enduring principles which are enshrined in the global NAM Movement. In India, the BJP Government of Narenda Modi has an enormous governing majority to propel investment in new fossil fuel projects, state of the art nuclear weapons and a new affinity with the AUKUS Alliance which erode India’s long association with the values of the NAM Movement in geopolitics.

Supporters of the Murdoch press are enthralled by these developments since the formation of AUKUS on 15 September 2021. The Indian Government chooses to proceed more cautiously as it currently lacks a majority in the upper house of its bicameral parliament with its powers to make constitutional amendments in the very unlikely event of a two-thirds majority. Treating a nation of 1.5 billion people as a personal chessboard might indeed erode the vast support base of the BJP in the lower house or Lok Sabha in May 2024.

By Dr Meredith Doig

Since marriage equality was legalised, ‘religious freedom’ laws have been part of the conversation. But these laws do not represent us.

The introduction of same-sex marriage was a momentous occasion in Australia’s history, heralding equal respect for all Australians. But in the eyes of some, it was a dark turn of events. Since the 2017 plebiscite, conservative religious activists have stepped up their campaign for special protections through so-called “religious freedom” laws, playing on the fear of religious persecution.

As states have progressively enacted widely supported reforms on the legalisation of abortion, safe access zones around abortion clinics, gay conversion bans, and voluntary assisted dying, we have witnessed multiple attempts by conservative religious elements to stack political party branches.

Members of the Morrison government – and some in Labor, too – have enthusiastically bought into the narrative that religious freedoms are under threat. With such religious activists currently pushing hard for a federal Religious Discrimination Bill to provide positive rights for religious individuals and religious institutions to discriminate against the non-religious and the religiously apathetic, MPs would be wise to think again.

The first instalment of the Religiosity in Australia report, written by social researcher Neil Francis and published by my organisation, the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) revealed that the level of support for religion has been greatly overstated. Seven in 10 Australians (71%) say religion is not personally important to them and 62% do not belong to any religious organisation. Only 23% say they do belong and only 15% are actively involved.

The trend lines show that Australians considered weakly or modestly religious have been abandoning religion in droves for many years – and the results of this year’s census are expected to confirm Christianity’s fall to below 50% for the first time.

Most importantly, the report also revealed that the views of senior religious clerics on key policy issues like abortion rights and voluntary assisted dying are out of touch with the very people they claim to lead – those in their own pews.

The second in Francis’ Religiosity in Australia series – published earlier this month by the RSA – explores, among other things, Australians’ journey with religion from childhood to adulthood. Francis confirms that significant numbers of Australians have abandoned their childhood religion – including 66% of those who were ‘Notional’ and 47% who were ‘Occasional’ religionists.

71% of Australians say religion is not personally important to them and 62% do not belong to any religious organisation. Only 23% say they do belong, and only 15% are actively involved.

Analysing the push by religious activists for “religious freedom” laws, Francis argues that it’s the very decline of religion in Australia that is driving their political activism.

“No longer would Christian conservatives be able to refer to a presumed Christian ‘moral majority’: not that it has existed in reality for some time given the numbers of religious who never attend religious services and say they don’t belong to their religious organisation,” writes Francis.

“Therefore, it’s important to religious conservatives to achieve greater religious ‘protections’ now, in case the Coalition government loses office at the next federal election…”

However, Francis warns that efforts to increase the rights of the religious can trigger a counter effect, pointing to an international study of 166 countries that shows privileging Christianity leads to a reduction in the faith’s vitality.

When religious conservatives embarked on their campaign for special privileges, they may not have counted on the pushback from pro-secular Australians.

Where previously secular and non-religious groups were fragmented, now they are joining forces and coordinating on a whole new level.

In response to initial drafts of the Religious Discrimination Bill, atheists, humanists, rationalists and secularists spearheaded the #DontDivideUs campaign, with former High Court justice Michael Kirby the campaign’s public face.

More recently, the same groups raised more than $50,000 for a campaign that encouraged Australians to reflect honestly on their religious beliefs and practices and urged them to mark ‘no religion’ on the census if they were no longer religious.

This effort was necessary to address the effect of the biased census question that, in assuming everyone has a religion, artificially overstates the importance of religion in Australians’ lives, skewing policymaking and public funding.

I believe there is an even greater scope for people who care about secularism to work together to achieve common goals on other issues.

As Francis’ new report notes, the not-so-secret agenda of conservative religious activists are deeply unpopular among ordinary Australians, including the mainstream religions.

Politicians in Canberra and in state capitals would be wise to wake up to the tactics of conservative religious activists.

The rest of the country already has.

This article was originally published on Independent Australia as “Religious discrimination bill: The devil is in the details” and on The Big Smoke.

By Ad astra

Here is another brief offering. It does not need to be lengthy because its message is straightforward. It asks the question: “Where has all the kindness gone?” and its corollary: “Why not be kind to one another?”.

The September 25 issue of The Good Weekend featured an article titled The High Life by Jane Cadsow, which was about the excitement airline pilots experience as they fly their amazing machines around the globe. It included an image of the pilot’s console – a myriad of dials, lights and levers, arranged alongside and above them. The overwhelming aura was one of extreme complexity that bespoke the ingenuity and the skill of human thought and effort in creating such amazing machines, as well as the extraordinary skill of those that pilot them.

The image evoked in me the question: “If man can create such extraordinary things, why is it that is it so difficult to exhibit kindness and generosity to each other?” Here is my explanation. What’s yours?

A constant theme of the preacher at the church I attended in my youth was that selfishness was the worst sin of all.

To me that rings true. Selfishness is destructive.

Reflect on everyday politics, here and abroad. There we see political players trying to outdo each other to gain an advantage, grasping every opportunity to put down opponents, to demean them, to trash their reputation, to destroy their credibility, to render them impotent. It matters not how earnest their opponents are, how hard they try, how laudable their intentions, or how much they have achieved. If they are opponents, they must be put down, demeaned, castigated, humiliated, ignored, cast aside, and where possible, destroyed. Gratuitous sarcasm is a frequent accompaniment. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is a contemporary master of this. Listen to the heavy mockery, ridicule, and scorn that pervades the language he uses to describe those he dislikes or hates! Any milk of human kindness he may have in his heart is intentionally missing.

This behaviour is not confined to politicians – a contemporary example is the media’s aggressive approach to Victorian Premier Dan Andrews. The Murdoch media leads the charge. No matter how often he appears at his podium to answer questions, no matter how long he stays there to address them, no matter how plausible and authentic his answers appear to be, there are always some who remain dissatisfied and continue to pepper him with acerbic queries that insinuate that he is being devious or outright dishonest. The tone of their questions is confronting, angry, redolent with disbelief. The same players front up every day to assault him with their nasty questions. Many are propelled by the Murdoch media. Andrews knows them all; so do we! Recently, they have honed in on rumours around branch stacking, aggressively insinuating that he is guilty. They are never short of nasty questions!

What we are witnessing is what we might reasonably label The political syndrome. Of course we know it is prevalent in other than political circles, but its occurrence there is so strident, so insistent, so discordant, so distressing, that this diagnostic label suits politics better than almost any other pursuit.

Is there any counter to ‘the political syndrome’? If so, what is it? Enlighten us with your responses.

This article was originally published on The Political Sword.

By John Haly

Dear Gladys,

Our relationship has curdled, and I am concerned about your mixed messages. Despite maintaining it was finished between us (the voters, not Daryl), you remain in the house. Using our joint account to pay $10,000 a day for your expensive addiction to lawyers. When lovers tell each other it is over, they separate as soon as possible. We have moved on to Dom “Opus Dei” Perrottet. Our heart has changed allegiances; once we realised you were representing Daryl, and not us.

Obviously, we need to rethink this, adding a little candour to how our relationship has transpired. Yes, we (NSW) voted for you in high hopes you would be better for our economy (as you always promise but don’t deliver). You’d think we’d learn that, but like Charlie Brown, we want to hope Lucy isn’t lying to us, and we have another punt at that ball. Your words were beguiling, and we always fell for it. Some friends warned us, but we are all too forgiving in 2019. Just look at how heartbroken we were in 2021 when you said you were leaving us. Then you didn’t leave, toying with our feelings.

Deep down, we know it hasn’t been working well for years. Some of us had misgivings only a year ago. Both Bernard Keane and I expressed our doubts in October last year, three days apart from one another. OK, I admit I was a lot harsher than Bernard, as he seemed to think your most prominent sin was cheating on us with Daryl Maguire. But, even lately, Bernard has not been as tough or honest with you as he should be. Instead, Bernard sugarcoats it as “two remarkable misjudgments” as though they were your only ones, which “until 2020, was a glittering career”.

Are we dating the same woman?

#Koalakiller tag burnt into our memory.

Bernard and I must be “dating” different women named “Gladys”. I don’t want to dwell too long on matters raised before, so I will be quick. I thought we both loved koalas, but instead, others gave you the tag #koalakiller because of your environmental policies on logging forests. You promised me public transport but gave us tragically built ferries not designed for our bridges and trains not made fit for our tunnels. You said you valued our cousins in the public service. But you spent all our money on pay rises for 65 coalition politicians and a police commissioner and refused to fund public service workers. You said you were good with money, but there were overpayments for some properties and underpayments for others. Was it just empty promises when light rails, stadiums and museums were under-costed or facing undisclosed financial discrepancies?

Your cuts to Rural and Urban fire services and de-staffing fire management officers and National Parkes and Wildlife, all before the most extensive bushfire in NSW. All despite having been predicted a decade earlier. The dodgy water trading, fracking and conservation failures, all while you hid MP’s water interests and were not straight with us. You switched on the desalination plant in Kurnell when water ran out in country towns and Dams were contaminated and then made us pay the subsequent price rises. Westconnex did well, while we saw the prospect of rising toll road costs and lost properties to compulsory acquisition. So, Gladys, you just needed to do a little planning. Then you put our lives at risk via the Ruby Princess and Aged care deaths under the management of Aspen Medical despite the fraud associated with them. But Bernard thinks you made only “two remarkable misjudgments”. Really Bernard, how could you overlook all this? Love, really is blind!

Her “glittering career”!

Climate Chaos is now unavoidable, but NSW corruption, unnecessary!

Look, Gladys, I was really hoping we could all move on to “a glittering career”. But the end of 2020 and 2021 hasn’t been covered in glory, have they? Barely had I finished talking about our relationship concerns in October 2020, then the “Stronger Communities Fund” pork-barrelling to coalition local councils showed up. You tried to hide your infidelity by shredding documents relating to those councils’ $252 million grants scheme. Even Scotty from Marketing could have told you that you don’t go on TV and refer to pork barrelling as the “common parlance” and at least try to look a little contrite.

Before the month was out, we discovered you’d previously given Wagga Wagga $40K worth of Grants out of a discretionary fund and to nobody’s surprise, it was Daryl’s electorate. (You’re our representative, not his.) True, the Premier’s fund was at your sole discretion, but you were not very discrete (as ICAC has the tapes). Daryl got millions for projects without business plans or discussions of substance. You seemed to “just throw money at Wagga” to benefit him. In November, the Upper house voted to refer you to ICAC for failing to disclose your relationship with Maguire.

By December, the ABC was reporting your involvement in the project for new headquarters for the Australian Clay Target Association Daryl Maguire championed. You have to admit Gladys he always one with an eye for a profit which ICAC tapes revealed you knew, despite seeking to maintain plausible deniability coyly with, “I don’t need to know about that bit“.

While the NSW government defunded it, the people clamoured for it.

In March 2021, ICAC confirmed they were still investigating Daryl. The highway running past his properties in his electorate came under scrutiny, as did your meeting over it with him. His Airbnb plans for his Ivanhoe properties didn’t strike you as a conflict of interest issue? Really, Gladys, really?

By May, when the upper house voted to provide for ICAC’s $7.2 million budget shortfall due to their declaration that its annual funding had been below inflation for most of the 30 years since its inception, but your friends in the lower house voted it down. It doesn’t help sell the image of integrity for someone for whom “all proper processes were followed” to underfund the very organisation that could establish that. If you have done “nothing wrong”, why undermine the one organisation that could prove it?

Daryl resigned from the party in July of 2018 over those scandals, and despite this entire sordid history, he remained on the crossbench. Does either of you understand the concept of “resignation”? Despite “quitting”, he stayed till August of 2018. Despite that, did it never occur to you to break it off with him and serve your constituents? Why wait till September of 2020 when the further announcement of ICAC investigations transpired?

Meanwhile, Wagga Wagga was doing very well, from their $12m cycling complex to their Australian Clay Target Association. Wagga Wagga seems to be the epicentre of sport in NSW. No surprise that more people in Wagga Wagga voted for the Liberal Candidate than for the Independent that won via preferences. Pork Barrelling works because the public is gullible and shallow.

Corrosive Covid

But enough of corruption charges, let’s look to your handling the pandemic and how you developed your competencies following the early mistakes of the “Ruby Princess”.

By June 2021, our attention moved on, as had yours. Your new beau, Arthur Moses, stepped up, being one of many who offered support. The AMA advised you to lock Sydney down when the Delta Variant made its way to Sydney. But you didn’t take the help they prescribed and relied on “business advice” for matters related to a virulent disease that had killed millions in India by June. Your own report coinciding with the Bondi cluster starting June 16 mentions “business” 21 times and “health” three times. Although “businesses” were still upset! You knew what happened when Dan delayed locking down the first time, yet you waited for School holidays to start a soft lockdown? Afterwards, you listened to medical advice. Who suggested that was a great idea, given you locked down the Northern Beaches during the previous Christmas over similar numbers? You waited another four weeks after the school holidays to get serious about a lockdown for what reason? How did this demonstrate your competence? Indeed, the 408 people who died from the virus before you resigned will never know.

So our infection rate rose over 1500 a day, Nurses and Doctors ran themselves ragged, and even though Morrison offered you the lion’s share of vaccines, NSW struggled to serve communities from the beginning.

The legacy of Gladys.

The other Eastern States provided their resources for contact tracing because you weren’t coping independently, but the public was told your State was the “Gold Standard”. You even needed help from the military to enforce lockdowns. Still, some people believed you were better than a Premier that had to break his back before he stopped doing public briefings. Whereas you stopped doing so because you needed time to run the State? To do what exactly? To open up around August/October when we still had hundreds of cases which seems a little contrary to the idea you expressed that “the number of positive coronavirus cases infectious in the community must drop to “as close to zero as possible” for the shutdown to be lifted”. But, of course, our new Premier, Dominic Perrottet, disagreed with that as a policy as the State recorded 477 new COVID-19 infections and six deaths on the weekend before restrictions were eased the following Monday. That was October 11, and you had resigned nearly two weeks before but were (and are, as of writing this) still a fully paid member of Parliament.

When are you leaving us?

So now I am writing the letter we should have written earlier if only we’d had the gumption and realised just how dysfunctional this relationship was. Instead, the media and public mourned your departure like it was a Shakespearian tragedy. I have never witnessed so significant a case of Stockholm Syndrome. Like the victimised battered wife who excused everything he did, outsiders are left wondering, why we didn’t leave long ago? All the indicators were there even from a year ago, yet too few remembered or noted.

Onset of Memory Loss upon exposure to ICAC.

But you are still in Parliament, you are still charging the State taxpayer for your legal fees, and you haven’t left yet. As a result, most days lately, we hear about your memory loss, despite a previous reputation for maintaining a detailed memory with “meticulous focus on every minor policy detail “.

You said you were going, Gladys. Put the money back you have taken from the State coffers and leave! There is only so much corruption, pork barrelling and taking advantage of us that we can stomach.

Curiously wondering for how much longer before you pick up your toothbrush and go!

Regretfully,

The NSW Public.

This article was originally published on Australia Awaken – Ignite your Torches.

By TPS Newsbot

Tim Smith refusing to resign over his drink driving is not an outlier, it’s indicative of a culture that remains in our politics.

After blowing 0.131 and crashing into the side of a house, Victorian MP Tim Smith vowed to quit politics. Sort of. He’s now changed his mind, refusing to stand down, claiming that he was ‘stupid’ but ‘not unwell’. Oddly, he has an ally. Tony Abbott has urged Liberal preselectors in Smith’s seat of Kew to not allow a “spirit of petty censoriousness” to end the public life of the “best Victorian (political) talents”. Smith himself has soliloquised: “Should one horrendously poor judgement render someone’s career over immediately?”

Tim Smith said he was not aware of how intoxicated he was because he had not eaten much that day.

“As a consequence, I blew much more than I ever thought I had consumed. I’m not offering any excuses,” he said.

He claimed he had only drunk “a few glasses” of wine at the dinner with friends.

“It’s selfish, it’s stupid, I’ve been fined, I’ve lost my licence for a year. I profoundly messed up in a life-altering way. I can’t take that back and I’m not trying to.

“It was an appalling lapse of judgment… I’m never touching a drop again.”

But while we get our heads around the above comments, Tim Smith’s drink driving and subsequent behaviour highlight a culture that has long been persistent in our politics.

In 2019, Labor MP Will Fowles made headlines for kicking a hole through a hotel door and was placed on administrative leave to treat his treatment for drug and alcohol issues. He did so with the “full support” of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

So here’s the latest. A politician (I don’t know who) has gone into a rage after discovering he couldn’t access his luggage. Police say he’s now calmed down but is facing charges. pic.twitter.com/VRKu5p2s2t

— Kellie Sloane MP – Member for Vaucluse (@kelliesloane) July 24, 2019

Fowles said, via a statement that “I have, for a long time, been dealing with addiction and other mental health issues… I will take a leave of absence to properly deal with my health issues.”

The Age has noted that “Labor sources indicated there have been concerns around parliament relating to Mr Fowles’ struggle with alcohol abuse since he was elected in the November 2018 landslide swing that returned the Andrews government with an increased majority.”

Fowles returned to work two months later, has repeatedly claimed that he hasn’t drunk since. He remains the member for Burwood.

Dan Andrews has repeatedly vowed to institute a scheme of random alcohol testing in parliament as early as 2014, and as late as 2016. The plan was also a commitment prior to the 2014 election, with Andrews promising that MPs would lose a week’s pay or face suspension if they were found intoxicated at work.

In 2016, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy noted that he had no objection to the plan, but outwardly questioned how much Mr Andrews believed in the plan, stating that “The Premier has had more than two years to implement this idea,” he said. “We agree it should be introduced along with random drug testing, and while Daniel Andrews is at it, he should also introduce random alcohol and drug testing of everyone on government construction sites – which he canned.”

When quizzed by The Age in 2016, Mr Andrews’ spokesperson said: “The Andrews Labor Government will deliver on each and every one of its commitments.”

In 2017, a bipartisan committee to analyse the idea dismissed it as “impractical”, with The Herald Sun noting that the “policy to breath-test MPs was informally discussed then dismissed at the House Committee in the past six months and hasn’t been raised by the government since. The government has not pushed the idea since the election.”

Practicality aside, what we clearly have is a cultural problem.

In 2016, The Age asked an unknown Labor MP about their thoughts about the plan being instituted. “Surely we’ve got bigger fish to fry,” that MP said. The example of Fowles’ door, the pieces of the marble table smashed when Tony Abbott was cast aside, the car that Smith drove into a house, speaks to the issue. It shouldn’t be left to these ministers to apply their own standards, make grandstanding apologies, and hopefully be changed by the experience. In 2016, Greens leader Greg Barber said it was up to party leaders to ensure their MPs adhered to standards, noted that “Green MPs don’t loll around the chamber drunk.”

This article was originally published on The Big Smoke.

By Denis Bright

The big picture of global geopolitics is often obscured by saturation media coverage of grand events like the G7 Summit in Cornwall (11-13 June 2021) or the G20 Summit in Rome (30-31 October 2021).

Leaks from the leadership teams can heighten interest in the forthcoming discussions.

Forums without pre-summit links can be boring affairs. Britain’s chairmanship of the G7 Summit in Cornwall seemed to fit into that category. Channel 2’s news coverage from Paris described the G20 Summit on 31 October 2021 as a largely unproductive talkfest.

The emphasis at the Cornwall Summit was on the morally responsible links between developed nations. Participating countries and observer states were called to unite around more transparent parliamentary democracy, the new norm of sustainable neoliberal economies within the ongoing imperative of global strategic management through the US Global Alliance.

Image from foreignbrief.com

Australia is a peripheral player on the conference circuit as an invited guest to the G7 Summit with leaders from India, South Korea and South Africa.

Our participation at the G20 Summit in Rome will always be remembered by the dressing down given by President Macron to Scott Morrison as covered by ABC News, (1 November 2021).

The assembled global media will always challenge Scott Morrison’s emphasis on rhetoric to win the next Australian elections. Like many Australians, such events are of nuisance value while political elites largely ignore real concerns across the local electorates.

Image from Business Standard

Domestic politics of developed middle powers is currently going through a very conservative phase. Centre-right governments dominate representative democracies in the developed countries as neoconservatives have become adept at appealing to working class voters to achieve absolute majorities or to fracture the support base of progressive parties through diversionary rhetoric from minor far-right parties.

Amid the boredom of frivolous media opportunities at global forums, anticipations of future tensions might surface. To the delight of Carrie Johnson, the Macrons respond defensively to some banter from Boris Johnson.

Here is my Call of the Board of the political changes associated with recent and forthcoming elections in those middle powers. Recent elections across the middle powers have largely been a confirmation of the status quo. What messages are left in the tea leaves from the recent round of elections across the middle powers?

Canada Stands Firm on National Sovereignty within the US Global Alliance

Justin Trudeau was re-elected in Canada on 20 September 2021 with a second minority government for the Liberal Party. The government will be supported by minority parties. The solid vote for Bloc Quebecois (BQ) adds some diversity to Canadian politics. It is a substantial grouping cannot be ignored by a French Canadian leader.

Tolerance of political diversity enables the Trudeau Government to maintain a strong commitment to national sovereignty. Canada was strongly pressured by the Trump administration to replace the NAFTA trading Agreement with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). USMCA became operational on 1 July 2020 after Canada negotiated amendments to the original agreement to strengthen the place of trade unions and challenge corporate prerogatives.

The Trudeau Government is no stranger to a commitment to national sovereignty in trading and investment disputes with the USA particularly during the Trump Era. The Conversation (1 February 2021) has a good article on these pragmatic disputes which extend to border disputes with Alaska that affect salmon fishing zones.

Cultural diversity has saved Canadians from the limitations of a one party neoconservative state. This was a key feature of those dour years under the leadership of Stephen Harper for almost a decade (2006-15).

Germany Takes the Plunge with Olaf Scholz

Former east-side Chancellor Angela Merkel also brought political diversity to German politics. The synopsis of her life and times was eloquently captured by Channel 5 in Paris for screening on Four Corners on 18 October 2021.

Olaf Scholz is now the Chancellor in coalition with the Greens and the neoliberal FPD Party.

Scholz served as Angela Merkel’s deputy in the previous Grand Coalition. He was also finance minister. The presence of the FPD and Greens in the Scholz Coalition should inevitably facilitate these policy changes with the SPD acting as a moderating rather than a radical influence.

Even during Angela Merkel’s long tenure as Chancellor since 2005, Germany’s pragmatic commercial ties with Russia and China were a concern to British Conservatives. Germany’s economic capacity and commitment to national sovereignty might have contributed to the BREXIT agenda favoured by Boris Johnson. Angela Merkel’s phone networks were bugged to keep the more conventional members of NATO better informed on developments according to Reuter news sources (The Guardian 9 July 2015).

In another independent phase during the Merkel years, the German Government had signed the articles of accord with the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in mid-2015 with the largest equity holdings of any West European Country of $US4.5 billion about the same time as Australia’s LNP signed up with $US 3.7 billion in opposition to cautionary advice from the Obama Administration.

Like Canada, Germany seems to lack the political dogmatism which is a feature of Australian conservatism. Few other countries have such a focus on winning the next election by repetitive news management strategies which is one of the hallmarks of the federal LNP with those nightly news briefing from the prime minister on the moral values of global capitalism and the need for more strategic preparedness.

Scholz served as Angela Merkel’s deputy in the previous Grand Coalition. He was also finance minister. The presence of the FPD and Greens in the Scholz Coalition should inevitably facilitate these policy changes with the SPD acting as a moderating rather than a radical influence.

Even during Angela Merkel’s long tenure as Chancellor since 2005, Germany’s pragmatic commercial ties with Russia and China were a concern to British Conservatives. Germany’s economic capacity and commitment to national sovereignty might have contributed to the BREXIT agenda favoured by Boris Johnson. Angela Merkel’s phone networks were bugged to keep the more conventional members of NATO better informed on developments according to Reuter news sources (The Guardian, 9 July 2015).

In another independent phase during the Merkel years, the German Government had signed the articles of accord with the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in mid-2015 with the largest equity holdings of any West European Country of $US4.5 billion about the same time as Australia’s LNP signed up with $US 3.7 billion in opposition to cautionary advice from the Obama Administration.

Like Canada, Germany seems to lack the political dogmatism which is a feature of Australian conservatism. Few other countries have such a focus on winning the next election by repetitive news management strategies which is one of the hallmarks of the federal LNP with those nightly news briefing from the prime minister on the moral values of global capitalism and the need for more strategic preparedness.

Japan’s National Elections – 31 October 2021

Newly appointed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida retained an absolute majority for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in coalition with the Komeito Party.

The new government of Fumio Kishida will be challenged by IMF forecasts for the Japanese economy during the current trading and investment disputes between the US and rival powers Russia and Japan.

There is a potential problem for more strategic controls over Japanese trade and investment after the Japanese elections in the wider interests of the US global alliance. China is Japan’s leading trading partner and does not seem to have problems with this partnership in both trade and investment.

Although Japan is a net creditor in capital investment flows to the world, the financial burdens of COVID-19 management in Japan have more than halved capital outflows between 2019 and 2020 (UN Center for Trade and Development-UNCTAD).

As a high cost manufacturing nation, Japan simply does not attract large capital investment inflows. There are real challenges to Japanese capital investment in the USA in an era of America First Strategies which commenced during the Trump era.

Expect Japan to deviate somewhat from its current strategic alliance with the US if difficult times return in the mid-2020s and beyond.

There are real opportunities for peaceful trade and investment with both China and Russia. The Annual Eastern Forum in the Russian Far Eastern Port City of Vladivostok offers opportunities to discuss such issues.

The complete list of participants in 2021 included Kevin Rudd who most likely participated online.

Russia has proposed a land-bridge to Japan through the island of Sakhalin. This island was part of the Japanese Empire before 1945 along with the adjacent Kurile Islands.

A road and rail link from Hokkaido to Sakhalin requires an additional 45 kilometres long of undersea tunnel or a continuation of the vehicular and passenger ferry services across the La Perouse Strait.

Construction of the six kilometre long bridge from Russia across to Sakhalin is entirely a domestic construction option for Russia (Global Construction Review 9 December 2019).

The close proximity of the Korean Peninsula to Southern Japan provides more justification for Belt and Road Initiatives (BRIs) to link Japanese ports to both China and Russia.

All of the middle powers in the US Global Alliance like Germany, Japan and Australia oscillate between phases of absolute loyalty to the US Global Alliance and qualified commitment to national sovereignty.

Reuters news agency (1 November 2021) expects Prime Minister Kishida to cling closer to the US Global Alliance while still promising to honour populist commitments to address wealth inequality. Public opinion in Japan favours Fumio Kishida’s leadership rival Taro Kano. Leadership rivalries might re-emerge if trading and investment opportunities deteriorate in the mid-2020s.

Strong prevailing loyalty of the middle powers to the supporters of the US Global Alliance is evident in arms sales to allied countries. Germany is now amongst the world’s top five arms exporters to countries involved in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya as noted by DW News (3 January 2021). Germany also exports submarines to Israel which are fitted with nuclear weapons in Israel according to comments from NTI (18 February 2021).

Increasing strategic ties between the US Global Alliance and India has seen a boom in arms exports of aircraft, air defence systems, anti-submarine warfare weapons, armoured vehicles, artillery, engines, missiles, sensors, satellites and naval ships. Sales amount to $US151 million in 2020 as noted by Trading Economics.

Germany, Japan and Australia have since become more cautious about financial arrangements with China. Germany finally agreed to fall into line with US requests for more restraint on technological transfers to China with some provisions in IT Security Law 2.0 in early 2021 (European Council on Foreign Relations 5 February 2021). As a response to international sanctions, Russia has increased the price of its gas exports to EU countries and Japan. France is diversifying its sources of natural gas with new supplies from Norway and North Africa due to frosty relations with Britain over the loss of submarine contracts and fishing disputes in the English Channel and the North Sea.

EU Politics in the G20 Era 30-31 October 2021

France goes to the polls on 10 April 2022 in the first round of the Presidential elections. Recent polls carry no joy for the French Left. Its polling has hit a new low and remains highly fractured. The shadow of far-right contender Éric Zemmour adds some complexity for French voters. For the second time running, the final runoff is likely to be between Emmanuel Macron and one of the far-right French political parties.

Italian politics is even more fractured than in France. The Five Star movement changed its allegiance in favour of the Democratic Party (PD). To contain its own defence spending, Italy is one of the five middle powers in the EU which hosts US nuclear weapons at the Aviano (Near Venice) and Ghedi Air Bases (Near Brescia). According to ICAN Australia, Italy has failed to sign or to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Anecdotes from the Federation of American Scientists show that Italy tops the EU list of nuclear weapon vaults and nuclear missiles:

In the meantime, the loyal middle powers are largely in cinque with a common commitment to neoliberalism and more strategic defence spending. The Guardian’s own investigative team (19 July 2021) has reported on the intensity of surveillance of political activists from both governments and corporations:

Human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, according to an investigation into a massive data leak.

The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware, Pegasus, which the company insists is only intended for use against criminals and terrorists.

Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones.

The leak contains a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers that, it is believed, have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.

Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based non-profit media organisation, and Amnesty International initially had access to the leaked list and shared access with media partners as part of the Pegasus project, a reporting consortium.

The presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether a device was infected with Pegasus or subject to an attempted hack. However, the consortium believes the data is indicative of the potential targets NSO’s government clients identified in advance of possible surveillance attempts.

The attendance of Scott Morrison at both the G20 and COP26 event rules out an election before March or May 2022.

Current opinion polling particularly from YouGov (Newspoll) is favourable to Labor with substantial swings against the federal LNP in all states and territories (The Poll Bludger):

The Australian reports the latest Newspoll has Labor leading 54-46, out from 53-47 three weeks ago, from primary votes of Coalition 35% (down two), Labor 38% (up one), Greens 11% (steady) and One Nation 3% (up one). Scott Morrison is down two on approval to 46% and up one on disapproval to 50%, while Anthony Albanese is steady on approval at 37% and down one on disapproval to 46%. Morrison leads 48-34 as preferred prime minister, out marginally from 47-34. More to follow.

However, support for federal Labor might still be soft in anticipation of the vast campaigning resources available to the LNP. There is time for Labor to add more marketing magic to this favourable result.

Very unconventional but responsible risk-taking in alternative marketing strategies are needed in the next few months to extend Labor’s current polling lead.

I came across this marketing gem which was developed to attract the attention of Queensland Rail (QR) commuters in Brisbane.

The advertisement is quite unrelated to domestic politics but it emphasises that wisdom can extend well beyond the confines of political elites when it comes to decision-making on vital personal concerns (YouTube on Staying Level Headed). This style of advertising has a lot of potential to engage disenchanted voters in both regional and other metropolitan electorates.

Cleared of a tendency towards misogyny, working people from all genres can rise to the occasion by articulating their concerns in good advertising which trumps the talk-down prescriptions which are a feature of Scott Morrison’s nightly news briefings.

As our prime minister for self-promotion, Scott Morrison will never be short of words to justify his enduring leadership qualities when such issues of concern are raised by electors. His media forays can be very Napoleonic when the need arises (SBS News, 2 November 2021):

Speaking from Glasgow, where he is attending the COP26 climate talks, on Monday night, Mr Morrison said, “I must say that the statements that were made, questioning Australia’s integrity and the slurs that have been placed on Australia … I’m not going to cop sledging of Australia.

“I’m not going to cop that on behalf of other Australians.”

By Andrew Wicks

The images of a lonely Scott Morrison at another international summit has proved how deep the antipathy is toward him… and us by extension.

While the most prickly piece of news emerging from the G20 this morning is Emmanuel Macron calling bullshit over the sunk $90bn submarine deal between France and Australia. Per The Guardian, “When asked whether he thought Scott Morrison had lied to him by not revealing Australia’s secret dialogue with the UK and US over the acquisition of nuclear submarines, a dialogue that ultimately became the Aukus pact, Macron was direct in his response. ‘I don’t think, I know,’ he said.”

It’s also worth noting that Macron met a number of leaders at the event in Rome, and Scott Morrison wasn’t one of them.

Now, letting the Prime Minister out without parental supervision usually provokes a response from the populace, as quietly, shamefully disown him just like the toddler running amok at the party. “Whose child is that?”, the world may ask, as we remain silent, disassociating, thinking of our lives without him. Interestingly, the below video clip seems a trifle unfair (and perhaps Scott Morrison is a victim of editing), but it reveals something that happens every time he attends one of these meetings: the leaders of the world like him about as much as we do.

Scott no friends.

(and no climate policy either). #auspol @AustralianLabor pic.twitter.com/AaFKeMsgef

— Patrick Gorman MP (@PatrickGormanMP) October 31, 2021

The international view of Scott Morrison oscillates between two polar opposites. Either they don’t know who he is, or they know, and are choosing to ignore him. Recently, Joe Biden (during the announcement of the deal that screwed Macron), famously forgot his name, while looking at him no less, thanking “that fella down under. Thank you very much, pal.”

The 2021 G20 is not an isolated incident, as his trip to the 2019 edition hinted at where our international prestige lay. In the eyes of the world, Morrison is completely out of his depth and has endured the summit as we have at our partner’s work mixer, avoided by all and sundry, forced to retreat to the safe borders of one’s phone.

The loneliness of boredom and the familiarity of being on the outside is wonderfully defined in the image below.

Scott Morrison at the 2019 G20 summit

I realise it’s foolish to draw conclusions from a collection of images, but the alienation of Morrison is fairly obvious, and it is clearly repeating. Something we’ve all done, nomadically travelled to separate conversations we have no station in, those we are politely shut out of before we seek plains anew. He’s clearly the victim of the politest form of denial, the avoidance of eye contact.

Image from thebigsmoke.com.au

Like the chap stranded at a birthday party, he’s clearly hanging in the orbit of the individual he knows best (Donald), although, he’s busy, he’ll hopefully be soon for a chat, and what was that joke about – are you guys laughing at a joke, that Donny is funny, hey? I’m Scott, by the way.

Image from thebigsmoke.com.au

The interesting part of the next image is that his partner is clearly making an effort with Melania Trump, whereas Scott has remained in place, waiting for a look from his mate, hopefully, to signify that it’s finally time to go.

Image from thebigsmoke.com.au

There has been substantial worry that the world will see who we elected, and suddenly think less of us. In Scott’s world (Australia, through the lens of his personal photographer), all is perpetually well. Knowing what we now know, the context that accompanies the below image is spectacularly grim. According to reports, the media at the event were kept in an area away from the leaders as they mingled. Morrison, with his personal photographer in tow (who took the image), allegedly made a bee-line for Macron (and sans mask), interrupted his chat and took the following photograph.

“I said g’day, I said g’day… he was having a chat to someone, I went up and just put my arm on his shoulder and just said ‘g’day, Emmanuel,’ and ‘look forward to catching up over the next couple of days… that’s the way these events tend to work and he was happy to exchange those greetings.”

So this was the best pic the PMO could get? Eeek pic.twitter.com/TgTkxxlbu4

— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) October 30, 2021

Clearly, the two versions of the image do not marry, leaving us at a familiar point, where we’re forced to accept his version of the truth. But as Benjamin Law put it: “As embarrassing as it is to see Scott Morrison on the international stage, there’s something relieving about it too—like having a secretly horrible family member making a scene and shitting themselves in public and you finally feeling like you have a witness to your ongoing pain.”

Awkward.

So photos emerging of the G20 mingling event – and NOT from Morrison’s personal photographer. pic.twitter.com/LOw1rcZrBj

— Mari R (@randlight) October 30, 2021

This article was originally published on The Big Smoke.