Labor’s Problem With Renewables, Reneging and Reading
Before you wish congratulations to Anthony and Jodie on their engagement, let me alert you to the fact that it’s only a distraction!
I know this because I’ve been reading people’s comments on social media. Apparently a number of people who were concerned about taxpayers being charged for Jodie Haydon’s travel on the grounds that she wasn’t the PM’s wife, are now sure that he only did it to distract from the fact that Labor released over a hundred criminals because the High Court ordered them to.
Some people are attempting to argue that the reason they were released was because they’d served a sentence and – with no prospect of deporting them – it was inconsistent to hold them indefinitely when other people who’ve committed crimes are set free once their sentence was served. This overlooks that these offenders belong to a class of people that the Coalition objects to: foreigners! Let’s be clear here criminals fall into categories as far as the Liberal Party is concerned those who should be locked up forever and those who we can enter into contracts with. (I’m presuming you heard about criminal connections linked to some immigration detention contracts.)
Anyway, I’m sure that any fair-minded person would understand that there was no reason for Albo to propose on Valentine’s Day apart from the need to distract people from all the problems associated with his government at the moment. For example, unemployment has just ticked over 4% which nobody apart from the Reserve Bank wants. The RBA argued that unemployment would have to go higher before interest rates could start falling but what would they know?
And, of course, in Victoria we had that terrible problem with renewable energy after a spell of nasty weather. Matt Canavan referred to it as a “renewables blackout” because the coal-fired power station was off-line after the wind blew over the transmission towers. All right, I was a bit confused about how it’s renewables that are unreliable when it was the coal-fired power station that was offline but then someone explained that a large number of houses were without power because trees had blown over and knocked out power lines and trees are part of the renewable greenie agenda and if we didn’t have trees then there’d be nothing to blow over… apart from powerlines, of course.
Then we have the problem of Labor reneging on their promise to keep the Stage 3 tax cuts exactly as they were when they were legislated by the Morrison government five years ago. Reneging on a promise is a terrible thing and the fact that most people think that the new arrangement is preferable to the previous one shouldn’t make any difference. The Liberals have never broken a promise in spite of what Mr Macron thinks about submarines. That, I should point out, wasn’t a promise – it was a contract and a contract is different from a promise because Scott Morrison told us that he made it clear to the French President that the contract wasn’t worth the paper it was written on because we’d changed our mind.
I’m still intrigued by the assertion by the Liberals that the government promised on “hundreds” of occasions that they weren’t going to change Stage 3. Saying that you have no intention of doing something is not the same as a promise that you won’t do it. For example, I have no intention of having lunch with Taylor Swift this weekend, but if you see a selfie of us at a restaurant somewhere I don’t think anybody will be accusing me of breaking a promise.
A few days ago, the Grattan Institute gave us the breaking news that one third of Australian students didn’t read as well as the other two thirds and that this was costing the economy billions of dollars. They had a report from which the media took various quotes and told us that the Grattan Institute report had the solution which was structured phonics lessons in all schools.
Now don’t get me wrong here. There are definitely students who need help with their reading. And teaching students phonics in their early years is a good thing. Both of these ideas are worthy of more time than I can devote in a few paragraphs… just like the media who manage to present the problem and the solution in a few paragraphs during one bulletin. Without getting bogged down here I would like to point out a few points that the news item didn’t think worthy of mentioning:
- The figures were based on NAPLAN results so it wasn’t a new discovery.
- When a report says that X number of people are “below expected level”, it’s always worth asking how far below the expected level they are. For example, there’s a big difference between having a below average wage and not being paid at all.
- The idea that “all schools” should be delivering structured lessons on phonics made me want to ask if it included all students in secondary schools.
- The report was compiled by someone who studied economics. I have nothing against economists but I wouldn’t want one to be diagnosing my illness and writing my prescriptions or performing surgery.
Whatever, it seems that Labor is having so many problems that Albo felt it necessary to propose and increase his chances in the Dunkley by-election because I’m sure that’s the sort of thing that’ll be foremost in people’s mind when they enter the polling booth.
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14 comments
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Terence Mills
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Harry Lime
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JulianP
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andyfiftysix
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Heather
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Geoff Andrews
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leefe
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wam
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Geoff Andrews
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wam
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Centrelink customer
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calculus witherspoon.
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ajogrady
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GL
Return to home pageAfter the coalfired power station went offline and the wind destroyed at least six transmission towers in Victoria, SKY went off like a frog-in-a-sock about the role renewables had played in this disaster and how, according to a very earnest Paul Murray it could only get worse particularly if Labor got a guernsey in Tasmania.
A young SKY reporter who evidently hadn’t got the memo, spoke to people who had solar panels in their homes with battery backup and who joyfully reported that they could run their refrigerator, TV and lights without any problem and, depending on the duration of the blackout, they should be able to get by. He also spoke to a lady who owned a Tesla who had been able to take power from the car battery to run essential services in her home and who praised her Tesla on air : this reporter has been counselled and advised that he may not have a future with SKY.
Speaking of criminals,bullet head Dutton is criminally incompetent judging by his former lives as a minister in a government brimming with fools of a similar ilk.It’s obvious that Mr Potato Head is suffering from terminal hypocrisy and a severe case of memory loss.Just another sorry arsed politician whose ego far outstrips his ability.Looking forward to his early demise.
@Terence Mills.
Splendid response TM.
BTW, and regarding the Stage 3 tax-cuts, one expert reckons Labor’s efforts are a bit like a smoke-screen, obscuring and leaving intact a far more serious problem.
[ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-15/ken-henry-australias-tax-system-in-worse-position-after-15-years/103465044 ]
hey Terence, you couldnt write the script….hahahahaha.
Kinda reminds me of the Monty Python skit about a dead bird.
Well-reasoned article, however what we are really dealing with is this vortex of fear and anger via the Internet, where fascism wins and the Military Industrial complex with authoritarian arguments ruling the day with whatever negativity you want to use.
It’s way past time for everyone to wake up and respond rather than react, and that’s what we have been seeing since the change of Government, no Labor are not perfect, they suffer from the same disease as the Coalition, until you can remove judgementalism you are part of the problem, not the solution.
As I have observed over my life, you create peace within yourself – it’s not external that just stuff that distracts you, and you can’t rely on any Government, they are part of the problem until they recognise that they are the problem when it comes to a fair and civil society that you will never see from any Liberal Government.
Always enough money for war via poor foreign policy and kowtowing to other countries version of reality, on the poor, the environment, those who are unable to work, deliberate polices keeping people ignorant thru poor educational funding, poor health services, poor infrastructure, especially in the Western suburbs of Melbourne which is essentially the labor pool for Melbourne, which is deliberate hardship policy for the status quo from a local, state and Federal level.
If the system is not working, time to change it, pure and simple, and to do that you start with yourself, hold out the hand of friendship to another rather than this transaction crap that has taken hold, as it’s killing us.
Heather. Wot? “Not working” it has SUCCESSFULLY taught 70% of children how to read, putting us into the top ten countries. Talk about glass half empty. Eighty years ago, I was taught to read using (gasp, horror) phonics and even more gasping in horror, chanting & repetition! It was apparently a complete failure as one to two percent of kids couldn’t read after three years! Dyslexia had not been diagnosed at that time. In August 1945, to celebrate the end of World War 2, my whole school were loaded onto half a dozen trams and taken to a local cinema where we were shown an afternoon of cartoons. At aged five and in Prep 1, I had never been to a cinema. At the end of the first cartoon, THE END came up so I thought that the show was over and got up to leave along with half a dozen of my classmates so some progress had been made in six months using the dreaded phonetics.
” …. criminals fall into categories as far as the Liberal Party is concerned those who should be locked up forever and those who we can enter into contracts with.”
You missed Category 3: those for whom PMs (past and/or present) write character references (yes, I’m looking at you Big George).
I must say, however, that James Cook Got Deaded Day seems an odd choice for a proposal but if that’s how they want to celebrate …
Early error, RossAlbo, A simple read of the judgement shows albo just needed to olearn from the idiot pommie lord on partition and say a decision on length of detention will be decided on july 1 2024 ie replace ‘indefinite’.
Sadly, the idiot lawyer, did not asequatelyexplain the use of NAPLAN and now it is rendered useless.
wam, I agree with your subtle & nuanced contribution albeit made at 2am this morning.
In particular the clever use of “asequatelyexplain” & “olearn” to remind us that one third of children can’t read let alone spell.
I am left wondering, however, if your references to “idiot pomme lord” & “idiot lawyer” were accidentally copied & pasted from another article you were writing at the time?
It is a relief & pleasing to see your caps lock key functioning again.
yes Geoff my writing and proofing is inadequate at the best of times, but so late?
The use of idiot pommie lord often po(o)ps up because he killed millions by a precipitous decision and Albo followed suit.
The repitition was weak because I consider her the most impressive PM of my political lifetime, despite being a lawyer.
But control V, no, just a controlling, hyped hippocampus.
Message for Anthony Albanese
Dear Prime Minister,
Last March I sent you a report of 2 illegal debt schemes administered by Services Australia. Your office refused to provide me with a formal reply, no reason was given. After my complaint, Services Australia issued another illegal debt notice.
The illegal debt schemes are as follows:
Fake Review scheme. Instead of a formal review decision made by an authorised review officer (ARO), Services Australia sent me an objection decision made by an anonymous delegate or authorised officer. Multiple senior officers and ministers, including Bill Shorten and Amanda Rishworth, advised me to apply to AAT to review this fake decision.
Rent Assistance debt scheme. Administered by Family Assistance Office (FAO). FAO automatically includes a Rent Assistance base rate in a FTB debt, if a parent/carer was deemed ineligible for Family Tax Benefit. This is illegal. The Rent Assistance is a component of the main Centrelink payment (like Jobseeker, Parenting Payment, etc). In my case, Family Assistance office simultaneously used 2 illegal debt schemes (#1 and #2) on 2 separate occassions, one year apart.
Prime Minister, please hold Services Australia accountable and take action.
Centrelink customer, it is wondrous how Openness and Accountability have become important since the new government got in (irony) but selectively reneged on things that DO count.
Likely to do with a cashless society under eternal surveillance?
Embarrassingly, after Australians showed that they did not have the courage ot the foresight to vote for a republic or the common decency to vote YES on the Voice. Is it any wonder that Australians themselves have committed Australia to being a pathetic forelock tugging vassal state to the USA resulting in Australian politicians and mainstream media corruptly selling out Audtralia’s sovereignty to the USA while being more obsessed in the USA’s national interests rather then in what is best for Australians and Australia’s national interest.
The Albanese Labor governments inane and slavish kowtowing to the USA has made Australians complicit in the war crime of genocide being perpetrated by the proxy USA state of Zionist Israel.
Lest we forget.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. The ongoing genocide in Gaza proves that evil has triumphed and there are no good men or women amongst
world leaders.
Of course he won’t break them up (neither would the LNP), the donations to Labor are just too good to jeopardise.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-23/albanese-coles-woolworths-duopoly-excessive/103502466