Political Challenges: More Progressive Responses to Ongoing Culture Wars Next Time Around?

The AIM Network

1 month ago

By Denis Bright

The LNP certainly knows how to frame its commitments to its self-proclaimed promises of a better life under neoliberalism in the shadows of global military industrial complexes.

Australian Election 2022 was a little different to earlier national campaigns because of the unpopularity of the Morrison Government and the appreciation shown in WA for that state’s management of the COVID-crisis.

This assisted in bringing nine out of fifteen WA seats into Labor hands. Near Perth metro seats like Moore and Canning withstood the effects of the swing to Labor and returned LNP members with reduced majorities.

In the normally safe LNP electorate of Canning, Andrew Hastie won almost every booth on preferences from minor far-right parties.

Mass coastal urbanisation did not restore Labor’s fortunes in post-1998 elections.

Labor won Canning won throughout the Hawke-Keating eras but not during the Cold War elections when voters were distracted by the need for a US Communication Base at North West Cape or for more vigilance about the presence of Russian vessels on the high seas in the Indian Ocean.

Diversionary LNP campaigning is alive and well again in contemporary Canning.

Labor’s successful result in WA carried Prime Minister Albanese to majority government in 2022. Virtually cutting off WA from the nation during the COVID-crisis was a big reward for the Labor Movement at both state and federal levels of politics.

With the return of normalcy, the old politics has been revived with an emphasis on assumptions about the related roles of neoliberalism and perpetual defence commitments in Australian politics in the interests of political stability at home and global hegemony for the US Global Alliance abroad.

These themes certainly emerge in the media releases from the LNP’s Defence Spokesperson Andrew Hastie. Readers might take a good look at the macro-themes of his web site:

As Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie is a real apologist for President-Trump elect as shown by the content of his interview with Andrew Greene from ABC News (15 November 2024):

I think we need to focus on the core task of war fighting. That’s the ADF’s mission is to defend Australia and to be the best war fighting enterprise it can possibly be. I don’t want to get involved in all this political correctness, which I think has done great damage to morale over the last 10 years or so. And to understand Pete Hegseth (US Secretary of Defense Elect)
I’ve actually read his book, ‘The War on Warriors’. If we want to understand where the next Secretary of Defense of the United States is going – it’s certainly not going down the path of political correctness. He wants America to be stronger, he wants to shake up the defense force, and of course, we have a critical relationship through AUKUS and so we need to do our bit. I think the task for us here is self-examination, not hyperventilation, about who President-elect Trump picks to be part of his Cabinet.

Leading Australia into more troubled waters is always at the expense of our trading and investment partnerships with China if Peter Dutton is to be Prime Minister in 2025 and greater demands on Australia’s commitment from the Second Trump Administration.

Money saved on freedom of navigation jaunts in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait would soon deliver a new public hospital for the Peel Region as advocated by Andrew Hastie in parliament on 21 November 2024.

Sending naval flotillas through troubled waters near China costs millions in operational expenses.

If there is any doubt about freedom of navigation, our naval crews could try out the public ferries and air services across the Taiwan Strait which are operated by transport providers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Ironically, a decade ago, Prime Minister Abbott was making arrangements for Chinese troops to join joint defence exercises in the NT (NT News 12 Aporil 2014).

All this changed from the inauguration of the first Trump administration.

Australian leaders who engage in sabre-rattling with China should also note the healthy trading relationships between Taiwan and China as summarised by Trading Economics. Mainstream media has over-simplified this pragmatic relationship between China and Taiwan.

Taiwan’s main export partners are Mainland China and Hong Kong, which account for 40% of its total exports. Taiwan’s main export products include electronics, information and communication products, base metals, plastics and rubber, and machinery. Taiwan imports mostly parts of electronic products (18.2% of total), mineral products (15.2%), machinery (12.4%), chemicals (10.8%) and base metals (7.3%). Main import partners are Mainland China & Hong Kong (19.6% of total), Japan (17.6%), Europe (12.6%), USA (12.4%), ASEAN countries (11.8%) and Middle East (7.7%).

Corporate soft media has also attempted to control the personal perceptions of sections of humanity through constant interaction with digital technology by mobile phones and computer screens. The big corporates in News Corp with control of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Harper Collins, Walt Disney, Discovery, Comcast and ViacomCBS Comcast are the big digital news networks and popular entertainment companies in most developed companies.

The impact of social media has grown exponentially through Meta Platforms, Inc (X) (formerly Facebook, Inc.), Alphabet Inc., ByteDance Ltd., Pinterest, Reddit, Inc., and Microsoft Corporation wield immense influence over the digital realm. As Elon Musk as White House Secretary for Efficiency elect, retains control over X’s policies, algorithms and content moderation.

The Albanese Government has acted in an attempt to protect some of the lifestyle components of our national sovereignty through The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 (Prime Minister’s Office 29 November 2024).

The minimum age will apply to ‘age-restricted social media platforms’ as defined in the Bill, which includes Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X and others. This legislation was carried by 101 votes to 13 in the House of Representatives with the combined support of both Labor and LNP members, apart from the LNP member for Bass in Tasmania.

With the assistance of my favourite AI robot, I have modified the marketing jingle provided promote some awareness of the changing tides in the Canning electorate as the 2025 federal election approaches during those happy summer days ahead in Coastal Mandurah and Beyond (Image from You Tube):

[textblock style=”4″]

Ode to the Canning Electorate
Southbound from Perth, a vision unfolds,
Coastal beauty, forests bold.
Summer’s fun, a golden sight,
All through forthcoming pre-election nights.

A hectic year in a now marginal seat test,
Differing views, an uncertain quest.
Albanese stands with a smiling steady hand,
Leading the way, to the contested Canning land.

A more united front, a hopeful sign,
A future in uncertain times.
When cost-of-living politics challenges old policy designs,
Social democracy still somewhat defiant in the Canning tides.

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Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.