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Who will you vote for and why? Who would you trust to deliver good government?

Election diary No 14. Saturday, 26 February 2022.

Who will you vote for and why? You should remember why if you intend to vote for the Labor Party. What was your reason, or if there was more than one and you are a non-aligned voter, what are they?

If you cannot remember then, l can help you. Please be patient.

The latest polls show no indication of returning to the pro-conservative levels post-Christmas and what l call “The undressing of Morrison,” a period in which the public finally woke to the thought that they may have been wrong about the government and its lying leader.

You can fool the people for an extended period, some of the time, but never all of the time. Eventually, they wake from their extended mental hibernation and see the truth for what it is. You don’t need many reasons to be rid of arguably the worst, most corrupt governments in Australia’s history. However, if you need additional information to assist you in your decision-making processes, here is a categorised list of issues for your perusal. Who would you trust to deliver good government?

Government

1 A voice for our First Nations People.

2 Restoring trust in our political system.

3 International relations (see current Essential poll).

4 Reduce the influence of the far-right.

5 Disproportion of influence in the mainstream media.

6 Ministry for the future.

7 Levels of immigration/population. The reason for low job rates now is that there isn’t any immigration.

8 Become a republic.

9 Restore the public service instead of spending millions on consultants.

10 Stop AUKUS.

11 Ethics taught in primary to high schools.

12 Re-establish manufacturing to its former status.

13 Buy back all infrastructure and overseas-owned farms.

14 Primary industry and fix public housing.

15 End donations and lobbying.

16 Reconciliation (including Closing the Gap).

17 Fix Indigenous deaths in custody, land rights, etc.

18 Outlaw all avenues of political influence by church/religions, secular mandate enforcement.

19 Limit politicians’ pay, removing early retirement.

20 Access to pension rackets, super and banning/curtailment revolving door employment after political career.

21 Genuine taxing of all. Including individuals, and businesses, and multi-nationals.

22 Domestic/foreign corporations and securing honest royalties for Australia.

23 Elimination of government rorts like the Great Barrier Reef $444 million.

24 Species extension should also be considered.

25 Royal Commission into the bugging of the Timor Leste parliamentary offices.

26 Free the asylum seekers that are left on Nauru and Manus Island immediately, as well as those confined in onshore detention centres.

27 Stop the cashless welfare card.

28 Restoration of funding for all that the Coalition have defunded: The ABC, FOI, National Audit Office. etc.

29 Genuine real-time realistic taxing of all domestic/foreign corporations and securing honest royalties for Australia.

30 A world-class NBN (for business, research, health, education, science).

Mainstream Media

31 Media ownership laws are broken and adversely corrupt, as is the ability of citizens to become informed with truthful information. Social media pages also need attention. Stop giving public money to Murdoch.

Social Change

32 Urgently address inequality and equality of opportunity.

33 Reinforce empathy and compassion by using social media.

34 Legalise small amounts of cannabis for recreational use.

35 Address narcissism in the community through social media.

Housing Affordability

36 Take action on negative gearing and capital gains tax.

Health

37 Try taking action on illicit drugs with unpopular methods.

38 Address poverty and homelessness.

39 Add dental to Medicare.

40 Better quality aged care. Oversight of facilities run for the mega-profits of owners rather than the inmates.

Education

41 Ethics taught in primary to high schools.

42 Politics taught in years 11 and 12.

43 Free TAFE and tertiary education.

44 University funding and fees. Overseas students.

45 Early childhood education.

46 Genuine education funding levels for all public schools, free unis, and decrease/remove private school funding.

The Economy

47 Lower the retirement age to 60.

48 Reverse the cuts to research and development funding.

49 Payback government debt.

50 Scrap all subsidies to mining companies.

51 Scrap the tax-free status of all religions.

52 Scrap all tax advantages for the wealthy and privileged.

Women’s Issues

53 Address the gender pay gap.

54 Equal representation in Parliament.

55 Seriously address the problem of domestic violence.

The Environment

56 Fix the Murray Darling Water fraud.

57 Fix the Great Barrier Reef (if not too late)

58 Funding for natural disasters.

59 Meet all our global obligations.

Unemployment

60 Address unemployment funding and all disability/aged pensions, with empathy and compassion.

And Finally:

61 Implement a Hawke style Cabinet where authority is delegated to the Minister.

62 Give the Public Service back the prominence and prestige it once had instead of outsourcing to consultants and advisors.

Conclusion

Should they lose the next election, the current government will have left a legacy of deceit and dishonesty that political historians will note as “The Luddite Period.”

As seen through the eyes of the left, the list of wrongs is so long that it would take one term (at least) to restore our democracy before addressing some of the more critical points.

The list is impossible to triage. All have worthiness to one degree or another.

For a government that has failed to deliver on so much from the above list – and more – it would be a travesty of significant proportion if they win the upcoming election.

My thought for the day

In times of national security fears, the propagandists have successfully promoted the LNP as being best able to handle those fears. Or have they?

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50 comments

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  1. New England Cocky

    In over forty (40+) years of active political involvement I have yet to see a representative of the Nazional$ do anything constructive for Australian voters. In contrast, I have seen the economic catch-up that occurs when a LABOR or INDEPENDENT candidate is elected, usually with a huge swing in votes away from the Nazional$.

    The above John Lord list of 62 necessary social, financial & political reforms now required in Australia to return to the pre-RAbbott – Turdball- Morriscum eight years of destruction in favour of foreign owned multinational corporations is stunning for the extent to which ”the Lucky Country” has been carpet-bagged by its own COALition politicians.

    This self-inflicted wound can only be healed by:
    .
    voting anyone but Liarbrals in city electorates &
    .
    voting anyone but Nazional$ in country electorates &
    .
    marking every candidate BELOW THE LINE in MY ORDER OF PREFERENCE
    .
    so that we may have a chance to recover Australian democracy for our grandkids.

    Voting for the lunatic fringe media personalities like Porelein or Kelly shows a complete lack of commonsense.

  2. Terence Mills

    You may have noticed that in the past couple of days Morrison and Dutton have been bellowing about China not being more outspoken on the Russian expedition to take over Ukraine : unusual that our government in Australia is chastising a foreign government for adopting a different diplomatic approach to an issue in Eastern Europe.

    The immediate impact on Australia of these ructions in Eastern Europe is already apparent at the petrol bowser where petrol and diesel prices have taken off reflecting among other things a massive failure by the Morrison government in planning strategic oil reserves onshore in Australia.

    Under international regulations, countries are expected to have a stockpile of 90 days’ worth of net-oil imports. Australia has failed to meet this target for many years, but we have been storing reserves of 1.7 million barrels in the USA in recent times because we have failed to establish onshore storage facilities : to draw on those offshore reserves, should things start getting rough, would mean a minimum of a two week dlay to access the reserve and transport it from the USA to Australia.

    So, what is the Morrison government strategy ? Well, start yelling at the Chinese for not being tougher on Russia of course. Or as it’s known in the trade don’t look here, look over there.

  3. Phil Pryor

    Never vote for any conservative, a greedy, ignorant, selfserving lot of careerist bloodsucking leeches abusing the system. And, that system, which grew out of the lord or squire running his area to suit, has become a maggotty misfit member hunt by the intrusive for obvious personal aggrandisement and accumulation of reward and status. Like any rigged race, the rails run, jockey bribes, battery in the whip, chemical assistance, coercion, stewards compliance, official rorting, all apply to politics, multiplied by howmanycanwegetawaywith?? There have never been , surely, so many federal Australian parliamentary shitskulls, cheats, chumps, controlled and covered brethren as now, nearly all conservative clods, clowns and out and out crooks.

  4. wam

    A warming list, from a cool pool, lord,
    Certainly, even with ignoring the impossible bits, far too long to address in one term of labor.
    The jarring bits to me were 19 and 23. The former reflects the shadiness of lawyers and amazingly obviates the need for a politicians voting. The shady side is the description of ‘independent’ when setting the ultimate control of terms of reference. The unannounced pollie payrises over the covid era should be disclosed. Any party, including the millstones, which advocates the end of the cash for pollies committee, will get my AEC cash. Alternatively, unions and associations(police) should simply demand equal payrises and the rort committee would be dropped.
    I am amazed that albo hasn’t taken task with scummo’s reef cash.
    The copperman’s $440m went to 4 people as cash. Even with the low interest, that’s a lot of pay with any assessment?
    Keep strong and away from the virus.

  5. Consume Less

    I know who I WON’T vote for and that’s Scooter and his bunch of miscreants.

  6. Canguro

    Being a reactive bastard, I’ve always voted Labor. My father, the monster who made my early years a living hell, was a rusted on Liberal, thoughtlessly and disinterestedly, and simply because he was a closet snob with pretensions of being an upper class individual; the likes of Tommy Playford and Bob Menzies got his tick time and again, and so by the time I was old enough to vote it was a given that my choice would go to the opposition.

    That choice was reinforced in the early seventies when I returned to school after a number of years working, in order to take advantage of Gough Whitlam’s opening up of the tertiary education sector to all Australians, and also, as the Vietnam war drew to a close and I was included in the ballot system prior to Gough’s ascension, it was very much on my mind as to what do do if I were unfortunate enough to be conscripted, given I’d seen how much damage can be wreaked on individuals given my father’s experiences; it was a lay down misère that Labor was the only choice, whether locally or nationally. And of course, living in Adelaide as a young man, it was wonderful to have Don Dunstan as the premier.

    It’s been thus ever since.

    The recent years have served to prove what a miserable bunch of miscreants the LNP are; self-serving seat-warmers without vision, empathy, compassion, integrity; a cabal of back-stabbing bastards whose raison d’être is to milk the system for all it’s worth for their own benefit and that of their ilk. A pox on all their houses, and may Labor live to rule the day!

  7. leefe

    Currently, who we won’t vote for is possibly more important; the big thing is to get rid of Scotty from Marketing and his gang of trough-snorters.

  8. Henry Rodrigues

    The party that gets my vote will not have rapists, liars, hypocrites, psychos, fornicators, apologists for the miners and polluters of the environment, will not actively undermine the australian people for the benefit of their donors and who do not take orders and guidance of foreign media owners.

    On the positive side, I will vote for the party that takes climate change seriously and agrees to institute a Federal integrity Commission within 100 days of being elected.

  9. Consume Less

    Well said Henry, you have my vote.

  10. ajogrady

    Ten years of the L/NP Murdoch coalition has cost Australia and Australians. It has cost Australia and Australians their futures, freedom, fairness, dignity, reputation, standards, values, morals, ethics, compassion, empathy and intellect but worst of all it has cost their heart and soul.

  11. Deidre Zanker

    The Fed election is our last chance to save our Democracy or watch it change into a Dictatorship under Morrison or Dutton.

  12. Michael Taylor

    These are the 2019 results from my electorate (Indi). Helen Haines is the clear choice in 2022.

  13. Geoff Andrews

    Item 54.
    Hmmm, Wot? Equal numbers of men &women in the Reps & the Senate?
    There’s ALREADY 40 women of the 151 seats in the current House of Reps and 34 women balancing 42 men in the Senate…. and you want MORE?
    OK, OK I have a cunning plan.
    The idea (and ideal) is to reduce the current 150 electorates to 75. Each new electorate elects one male & one female. The electors of that electorate get two votes: one vote to elect a male; the other to elect a female.
    This could be partially implemented immediately with each of the forty electorates currently held by a woman: a neighboring male electorate is amalgamated with the sitting female electorate to form a two member electorate. When a sitting male member retires or drops off the twig, his electorate is immediately amalgamated with a neighboring electorate for the next election. It may take some time but at least it’s moving in the right direction.
    In the Senate, the electors have two ballot papers; one to elect 3 females , one to elect 3 males.

  14. GL

    Me love LNP so much that me will definitely vote for them at election.

  15. wam

    if you were right, GL, there would never be enough to elect the libs.
    Sadly, there are enough labor who hate the extremists and in your electorate, michael, more than 75% of greens did not preference labor 2nd.

  16. Michael Taylor

    Hi, wam. I think Helen Haines was helped over the line by the second preferences from the Labor voters.

    Last election, unfortunately, Carol and I were unable to vote. We headed off to Ireland and Scotland a few days before absentee votes were available to download from the internet (which was less than two weeks before the election, strangely), and we were nowhere near a consulate for us to cast votes.

    Our coach tour ended in Edinburgh the day after the election.

    While you guys were voting we were wandering around an old castle or patting hairy coos.

    Carol and I sipped on a coffee after breakfast in Edinburgh, trying not to choke as the results were coming in.

    This year, however, we’ll be the first ones at the polling booth.

  17. corvusboreus

    MT,
    Based on basic maths, and assuming most NAT & PUP preferences went to the LIB candidate, H Haines (INDI) likely scraped in on a combination of LAB, GRN & DHJP voter preferences.

  18. L.S. Roberts

    I love your wish list but even with a comfortable majority in both houses I doubt that much of it will be achieved or even started in the first term of a Labor government. Technically we have lived without a functioning parliament for much of the last two years and the whole political process needs an overhaul for the 21st century. We all know what Labor is like; scores will have to be settled and the eternal Labor split looms.
    More than ALP internal problems we have a climate crisis of some significance. We can envision crisis management for three years probably with the help and hindrance of minor parties and independents. I wish the party well but time will tell.

  19. Michael Taylor

    cb, you are – in all likelihood – quite right. But nonetheless, as per my comment, Helen was no doubt helped over the line by Labor’s preferences, so that statement is 100% correct.

    I’d only mentioned Labor because they don’t stand a chance in this electorate.

  20. corvusboreus

    MT,
    Based on my reading of the figures, even if every single ALP & GRN primary vote flowed to Helen Haines, she still needed most of the Hinch-mob preferences to gain the seat.
    The LIB vote undoubtedly gained a significant basal reinvigoration by offering a candidate who wasn’t sophie mirrabella.

  21. Michael Taylor

    Yes, but I’m still correct that Labor preferences flowing to Helen no doubt helped her.

  22. corvusboreus

    Yes, MT, you are absolutely 101% correct.

    Had more than the merest handfull of ALP voters funneled their preferences to the LIBs, Helen Haines could not have won Indi.

    Corvus out.

  23. Michael Taylor

    Have a great evening, buddy.

  24. Carol Taylor

    Helen Haines has been able to gain for herself a huge community profile not just what she has done via a Federal ICAC but also community batteries and being constantly involved in community issues. Voices For Indi selected her as a candidate to replace Cathy McGowan. Helen was previously well known in medical circles but now has a huge community profile. She attracts preferences from anyone remotely progressive.There is of course always an ultra conservative base but they won’t be enough to dislodge the elegant, progressive Helen Haines.

  25. wam

    Till 2018 some of my family lived in Indi and corvus is spot on with the rabbott’s exceptional woman was easily disliked and the drover’s dog would have bowled her over.
    The libs love her enough to give her a plum lifetime job.
    In 2019, if the nationals did not leek 23% to helen she loses.
    Palmer about 50-50
    Hinch about 2-1 ALP 4-1
    (all very similar to cathy 2016) https://results.aec.gov.au/24310/Website/HouseDivisionPage-24310-218.htm
    Helen has an excellent chance again and let’s hope she is returned.

  26. Kaye Lee

    Actually, the 2 candidate preferred preference flow shows Haines got 1814 votes (19.02%) from the Nats.

    On the other hand, the Liberal guy got 2,248 votes from Labor and 687 from the Greens. Weird.

    Her winning margin was 2816. That could easily go up significantly this time.

  27. corvusboreus

    KL,
    The UAP primary vote in Indi (about 4000 overall) was split about 50/50 between Martin & Haines.
    Had this gone 80/20 it would have been just about enough to secure the seat for the coalition.
    Twas Clive wot won it fer Helen!

    I too hope Ms Haines is returned, but i have learned not underestimate the myopic gullibility of the general electorate.

    Here in Cowper, last time round a fair slice of ALP (24.4%) & GRN (22.6%) preferences went straight to Pat Conohan (NAT).
    This seemed to partially stem from perceived distrust of Rob Oakeshotte (IND) as ‘a turncoat ex-national’.
    This represented an extra 5000 votes for the coalition.
    Not enough to swing the result, but it did significantly increase the margin.
    https://results.aec.gov.au/24310/Website/HouseDivisionPage-24310-113.htm
    It seems unlikely that Oakeshotte will bother running again, so it looks like many of the Labor & Greens voters of Cowper have helped re-entrench their electorate as a safe coalition seat.
    Ps, 38% of Cowpers Animal Justice voters felt that stewardship of animal welfare was best delegated into the paws of the Nationals.
    That’s beyond weird, it’s fupduk.

  28. Michael Taylor

    Kaye/cb,

    I do hope Helen is re-elected.

    She’s what I call a “grassroots” politician (as was her predecessor Kathy McGowan). In all the electorates I’ve lived in during the past 35 years I’ve never witnessed a couple of politicians so active in the community than Helen and Kathy. They just don’t talk the talk with the community, they walk the walk as well.

    Usually with a local member you just get to see their face in Parliament or the newspaper. Not the case with Helen.

  29. Kaye Lee

    Both admirable MPs Michael, as were Oakeshott and Windsor. A good crossbench makes parliament work better.

  30. Michael Taylor

    Peter Dutton has started a GoFundMe page to help the Qld flood victims.

    I kid you not.

    To try and show us he is a humane person he has succeeded only in showing how inhumane the federal government is.

    A PR stunt if I’ve ever seen one.

  31. corvusboreus

    ‘As I pledge taxpayer revenue to fund overseas arms shipments, I simultaneously call upon acts of home charity to help finance domestic disaster relief.’

    What was that we were we saying about the benefits of consultative local representation?

  32. A Commentaror

    I’m going to try not to comment too much on this topic.
    I’ve generally voted for independents and small parties in the past. I’ve recently reconsidered my views about independents, not small parties.
    Independents lack any coherent policy framework and have no leadership structure.
    They are unable (or unwilling) to explain how a stable government will form if there are a dozen or more independents elected.
    They will all be looking for a place in the media and political limelight.
    Here are just a couple of the important public policies where most independents have been completely silent-
    * Foreign policy, particularly during this period of significant international tension
    * Policies regarding the deficit, taxation and economic development
    Every political party will state their policy regarding each issue of interest and concern, that’s clearly not the case with the independents
    Parliament is about more than “consulting with the electorate”, it is about how Australia is governed in the national interest.
    Find a party with a leadership structure and a policy framework that you broadly agree with, and support them.

  33. Michael Taylor

    A C, there are electorates where not much choice is given, that is, the independent has little chance of being unseated in just one election.

    In that regards I’m rather pleased to be in Helen Haines’ electorate rather than, say, Bob Katter’s.

    I disagree to a point though that Parliament is more than “consulting with the electorate”. Electorates are entitled to vote for a member who best represents that electorate (at the micro level).

    Or we could be like some goose who used to bail everyone up at one of the local shopping centres, telling all and sundry how great Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson were.

    “Pauline Hanson speaks for me,” he’d proudly claim.

    “What a pity she doesn’t vote for you in Parliament,” I once replied.

  34. corvusboreus

    AC,
    Some very absolutist statements there.

    Surely you don’t claim that sometimes rigid ties to party logistics and policy structure can manifest as impedimentive baggage hindering policy progression?

    That not every indi is a narcissistic egotost sitting in an entirely policy-bereft marketing gloss-box?

    That sometimes policy viewpoints formulated relatively free from entrenched power-structure influenced (ie ‘corrupted’) viewpoints can provide comparative situational clarity?

    That, given the local option of an intelligent and communicatively articulate independent candidate as a practically viable alternative to a toxic entrenched incumbent, we should shun such options, and instead should stick to ticking the box for an established party hack without a hope in hell of winning?

    Please say it aint so.

  35. Michael Taylor

    cb,

    Sophie Mirabella used to be our local member. She belonged to a large political party, yet Helen Haines and Kathy McGowan did more for this electorate in half a day’s work than Mirabella did for the electorate – and country – in twelve years.

    How naïve of me not to vote for her. 😉

  36. New England Cocky

    There was a time in the noughties when there were seven (7) Independents in the NSW Parliament.

    In New England and the NSW Northern Tablelands the only time in the past 40+ years that anything got done for the community was when an Independent was elected. The late Bill McCarthy (ALP) was the exception that started the progress rolling in NSW, then we had Richard Torbay and now we have Holla4A Marshall (Nazional$). Now we have empty NSW promises and Beetrooter stumping up feral grants of about $500,000 for local foreign owned multinational horticultural corporations to connect to the Internet with FTTP that RAbbott & Turdball stuffed up in 2013. Note that the Guyra town residents (mainly Nazional$ voters) were NOT included in this generosity.

    How much was the ”political donation” aka ”political bribe” paid to the Nazional$ to get this funding??

  37. Terence Mills

    Michael

    I am in Bob Katter’s Kennedy electorate and I expect that he will get re-elected in May.

    Yes he is a goose – we don’t seem to be losing as many in the electorate to crocodiles since he raised the issue – but, as an independent (yes I know he has his own party but for all intents and purposes he’s an independent) he can be and often is a thorn in the side of the elected government and can bring about change.

    For instance, being of a certain age, I found that I had a prostate problem and needed an MRI scan to check it out. MRI facilities in the electorate of Kennedy are as scarce as hen’s teeth and many men have to travel long distances to find an MRI service : I had to travel to a privately operated facility in Cairns, the nearest to me.

    An MRI it turns out costs around $550 and although essential was not covered by Medicare – so first they scan your credit card and then they scan your prostate !

    I did some research and found that many thousands of Australian men were travelling, sometimes very great distances, for an MRI scan but with no medicare reimbursement even though the scan was considered by accredited medical journals as essential and superior to the conventional digital exploration and biopsy.

    So, I assembled the information and sent it to Greg Hunt pointing to this anomaly in Medicare but with no response. I also sent it to Bob Katter who was on to it pretty quickly : it took a couple of months but Greg Hunt then quietly announced a Medicare rebate of $400 for prostate MRI scans.

    https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/400000-australians-to-access-lifesaving-medicare-scans

    https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/new-prostate-mri-rebate-marks-end-of-unnecessary-painful-cancer-biopsies-20180629-p4zoki.html

    So, it really depends on what you want from a local member. Had we had an LNP boofhead I don’t think we would have got very far on the MRI issue but they need Bob’s vote in the parliament as they do with all independents and that gives us leverage as would be the case in Indi, I imagine.

    In summary, if you are losing friends and neighbours to crocodlies or have a dodgy prostate, vote independent !

  38. Michael Taylor

    Hi, Terry.

    Thanks for that. These are the stories we don’t hear down our way. Well done, Bob.

    Here in Indi we have woeful broadband – a complaint echoed by businesses and households alike. Helen Haines has now got a commitment from the federal government that over 15,000 homes/premises in Wodonga and Albury (and Albury isn’t even in her electorate) will be upgraded to FTTP.

    This is what happens when a member talks to and listens to the electorate.

  39. Michael Taylor

    Speaking of MRIs, I’ve had two in Albury recently and am soon off to Melbourne for a third.

    It always amazes me, that seconds after being instructed to lay perfectly still for twenty minutes… you’ll get an itchy nose. 😂

    Back to our NBN, and Helen Haines getting upgrades for Albury, why didn’t their local member, Sussan Ley bother?

    The power and pull of an independent cannot be underestimated.

  40. GL

    Ah, Albury, and Bandiana. Frightening the hell out of tank drivers by running across the tank test tracks while they were driving around at speed. My father (WO1) and he was, shall we say, not pleased when he was told what we were doing.

    Anyway, what’s Albury like now?

  41. GL

    Forgot to mention that I’m an army brat and going way way back to 1966 – 1971.

  42. Michael Taylor

    Albury is a good spot, GL. We don’t get over there often, which is mainly to buy clothes.

    Wodonga was a bit of a dump when I lived here in the mid 1980s (work transfer), but these days: wow. Plus it’s growing so fast.

  43. wam

    yes, michael, corkay echoed my hope for helen’s return and kaye corrected my %. Thanks Kaye, a closer look showed that 75% of the greens didn’t give their 2nd preference to labor. But I think that reflects vics and the bandit. In kennedy only 40% didn’t preference the ALP. in new england 40% did preference the ALP Luckily, in solomon, 70% of greens went to labor to allow a great pollie, luke gosling to win. 50/50 would have seen a clp victory There was much to admire from independents, Oakeshott and Windsor.
    Conservatives that had vision, the courage of their convictions and who put the lie to only the left ‘caring for Australia’

  44. Terence Mills

    Michael

    I may be wrong but I think Spud Dutton’s GoFundMe page is for nuclear submarines !!

  45. Michael Taylor

    Well if that’s the case, Terry, I’ll chuck in a few billion. 😉

  46. Canguro

    Let’s just remind ourselves what sort of people & mindsets comprise those who sit on the government benches in Canberra, at this, yet again, time of real crisis in Australian communities, with Lismore and other northern NSW towns along with southern Qld under complete deluge and bringing staggering losses to thousands…

    also, from RonniSalt @RonniSalt
    ·
    Your reminder that the Australian government sits on $4.7 billion in emergency response funding that they have not spent a cent of.

    There are elderly pensioners on their roofs right now in Lismore needing rescue and the Minister for Defence is running a GoFundMe.

    No words.

    …and Eden Gillespie @edengillespie

    The PM was also asked about Peter Dutton’s GoFundMe for flood victims. He says it “sounds to me like someone doing their job.”

    “I don’t understand the criticism of it, frankly, I really don’t.”

    And these folk expect the electorate to support and re-elect them. My mind boggles.

  47. The AIM Network

    Considering that Scott Morrison wouldn’t even be able to manage the opening of an envelope, it’s worth remembering what real leaders do in a crisis:

  48. New England Cocky

    @Terence Mills: The only social & economic progress made in Northern Tablelands and New England has occurred when there have Independent MPs in either or both the feral and NSW Parliaments. At present the representative of the Nazional$ in New England is an adulterous alcoholic self-serving sponger & grifter beloved by male graziers who would dearly love to follow his example while using government funds to do it.

  49. Jack Cade

    Michael Taylor Your unkind remarks about Peter Dutton (at 4.54) completely ignores the possibility that behind the ugly, brutal, uncaring, vicious, vindictive exterior there lurks a person who was affectionately known by the nickname ‘Thumper’ by his fellow Brisbane wallopers. So how can somebody who reminds those who know him best of Bambi’s devoted little mate be the person your remarks hint at?
    Or have I missed something?

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