Category Archives: Politics – Australian

Keynesian economics and the Magic Pudding

Posted on by
Reply

The level of economic ignorance and stupidity has reached such astronomical levels that I can make the forecast that Australia is heading for many years of falling real incomes and a vast increase in the level of poverty.

You really have to stand in amazement at how little flak this morning’s front page in The Oz has received: Election 2022: Labor to turbocharge budget deficits in ‘quality spending’ focus. If Labor wins they will do nationally what Labor has done in Victoria. 

Labor is planning to unveil budget deficits up to $10bn greater than the Coalition over the next four years as Anthony Albanese sharpens his election pitch around the need for “quality” spending rather than fast-tracking debt reduction….

“What we need to be able to do is to flick the switch in the budget, not to austerity, but to quality, so we can fund the things that we care the most about,” Dr Chalmers said.

hese idiocies. Our present Government actually does know better but are barely able to explain any of it in a way that will have the general run-of-the-mill Treasury and academic economist on side. Certainly you will find almost not a single warning out there from hardly any of them.

Meanwhile we will be dismantling our power grid and ability to deliver low-cost electricity to industry. I don’t wish to single out The Age but reading its editorial today really did depress me: Fair wage growth must be at the heart of economic recovery.

more value adding output than the value of the resources used up in production. If anyone thinks the ALP is remotely capable of that sort of outcome, just vote these people in and then sit back and enjoy the rising level of poverty that will then be inevitable. Not for everyone, of course, just most of us.

Melbourne has lost what it once had

Posted on by
1

Australia though it may be, picked up at that great Canadian site, Small Dead Animals. I will also provide this comment from amongst those found there.

Melbourne used to be a great city, the best in Oz. It has become irretrievably Leftist in the past 30 years and now there is no hope. VicPol is a hard left organisation doing the bidding of the authoritarian pseudo Marxists in power. This cannot end well, especially given that the inner parts of our other major cities are going ultra woke also.

It’s really the idiocies of Covid that have done us in coupled with a particularly stupid and vicious premier. Who knows when we will return to what we were of even if we can.

“The undecided” will ultimately decide

Posted on by
Reply

I watched the first “debate” between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and this is what I now find out from the papers: Undecided voters give win to Anthony Albanese after leaders’ debate. This was the final tally:

Of the 100 undecided voters at the debate, 40 per cent gave the debate to Anthony Albanese, 35 per cent to Mr Morrison and 25 per cent remained undecided, results show.

Of course, no one is actually undecided. You may be sure that at least 40% were ALP voters since there is no way to really keep them out. An undecided is someone who says they remain unsure, but anyone who watched the flow of words and thought the ALP leader was the more persuasive has demonstrated a decided lack of grasp of the issues, or has very little idea of what will make their lives more secure or more prosperous.

I will just say that the PM took the Leader of the Opposition to the cleaners. He understands the issues more clearly, he has a vision, he is realistic and recognises the nature of the problems our country faces. That should lead to his re-election but that unfortunately is now how things work. The people will be consulted and they will make the decision. So we will end up with our version of Joe Biden.

Let me end with this, which is in all essentials the promise being made to Australians by the ALP: however bad things are now, we will make them worse, or as it says at the link but in reference to the US: Red states [ie States governed by Republicans] top blue states [ie states governed by Democrats] for low taxes and best economies.

The ALP plan, as usual, is to introduce some unaffordable freebie welfare program, then lose government and let the Libs work out how to pay for it.

Of course, the ALP pitch is to say that had they been the government everything would have turned out better than they have. Meanwhile, they promise to fix our non-existent global warming problems by crashing our carbon-based power-generating system, and will eliminate the non-existent racism that supposedly ruins social relations in this country by blaming everything on people who ancestors have come – either recently or in the distant past – from Northern Europe.

The Australian left has not a single sensible policy idea to offer

Posted on by
Reply

Let me start with this, which is in all essentials the promise being made to Australians by the ALP: however bad things are now, we will make things worse, or as it says at the link but in reference to the US: Red states [ie States governed by Republicans] top blue states [ie states governed by Democrats] for low taxes and best economies.

I just sat through the first of the Sky News debates. The Prime Minister explained one policy position after another along with trying to weave in an understanding of how limited are the resources available to deal with the phenomenal costs involved. But what was most extraordinary to me was the absence of any actual proposal by Labor to shape any specific policy outcome.

The ALP plan, as usual, is to introduce some unaffordable freebie welfare program, then lose government and let the Libs work out how to pay for it.

Of course, the AP pitch is to say that had they been the government everything would have turned out better than they had. Meanwhile, they will fix our non-existent global warming problems by crashing our carbon-based power-generating system and will eliminate the non-existent racism the supposedly ruins social relations in this country by blaming everything on people who ancestors have come – either recently or in the distant past – from Northern Europe.

Are Australians stupid enough to elect our own version of Joe Biden?

Posted on by
2

From Scott Morrison invokes Anthony Albanese’s socialist left faction in attack on Labor’s national security credentials.

The government has repeatedly attacked the Opposition Leader and his frontbench on their ties with China as well as cuts to the defence and intelligence budget when it was last in power.

Mr Morrison in contrast has hit the hustings to promote his government’s strength on Chinese coercion and its massive increases in defence spending.

He said his Labor counterpart was “not the right leader for this country”, criticising his foreign policy credentials and his ideological base.

Weirdly, hardly anyone mentions border protection any longer, but the left across the world promote open borders. It would be the end of us, as it may soon be the end of the United States.

“The other part that worries me about Anthony Albanese when it comes to national security, is that he has always come from the socialist left of the Labor Party.

“He has always had sympathies with those policies which have been very hostile.”….

Mr Morrison said the voters had to “compare and contrast” between the Coalition and Labor at the next election on issues surrounding China, security and borders.

Every government is a disappointment since there are so many compromises that have to be made in government. But if we cannot see the difference a Labor Government would make, we are heading for a very dismal future.

Changing the Calculus in the Defence of Australia

Posted on by
Reply

This is directly taken from Ace of Spades but it is really all about us here in the South Pacific.

Take a look at the map below. With the waters of Kiribati and the Solomon Islands now subject to Chinese military control, China can be as dominant in the South Pacific as it wants to be.

Solomon Islands - Kiribati map.JPG

Lieutenant General Greg Bilton, the Australian Defence Force’s Chief of Joint Operations, told reporters in Canberra on Thursday that any stationing of Chinese navy vessels in the Pacific nation would “change the calculus” for Australia’s defence forces.

Changing the calculus doesn’t change the fact that Australia’s Navy is highly distracted by enforcing the culture war.

Here is the link where more is found: Solomon Islands inks security deal with China, ignoring Australian protests.

Daniel Andrews may be the most clueless political leader in Australian history

Posted on by
1

There really is no getting away from how dumb Daniel Andrews is, with this the latest: Dan Andrews rips into Scott Morrison as the Prime Minister calls for end to hated Covid isolation rules: ‘I’m in the business of taking advice from the experts’.

Everyone in politics has “experts” to draw upon. We elect our leaders for their judgment; we elect them in the hope they will be able to make sensible decisions based on the advice they are given. The PM is trying to emphasise that the lockdowns and closed borders are based on decisions made by the premiers, and if things were up to him, many of the restrictions now in place would be lifted. Andrews has thus helped the PM get his message across. It is Andrews who is responsible for having implemented the world’s longest lockdown, and for keeping the present restrictions in place.

As for taking advice, it has been clear from the start that it is Andrews who has made all the major decisions in Victoria, and that the only serious consultation he does is with those who do the polling. That is what we have had to put up with since the start. But if he has not had a variety of opinions offered by the “experts” he is surrounded by, Victoria really is an idiocracy from the very top all the way down. But that is not how it worked out. The people who do the polling have told him that the majority of voters in Victoria prefer the lockdowns and that is what we have had, and will continue to have until voter sentiment changes.

There he is, a political leader, Premier of the State, but still doesn’t know what the job he has actually is. It is to make decisions based on all of the options that others propose.

That he has been singularly inept in the decisions he has made is just how it is. He will leave Victoria a bankrupt mess, wrecking the world’s most liveable city in the process. And there is no doubt that the mess is directly attributable to the string of phenomenally bad decisions Daniel Andrews has made while Premier.

It’s always for political reasons

Posted on by
Reply

This is from The Spectator online:

Xin Du asks if the Daniel Andrews government in Victoria is keeping children masked for political, rather than medical reasons…

Masking children is idiotic but you may be sure Andrews has focus-grouped this to the fullest extent possible. Of course, it’s not for medical reasons. In politics it is always for political reasons. It’s embarrassing to read such inane things from a source where I expect them to know better.

“Put the arguments aside…”

Posted on by
Reply


I appreciate that The Oz puts a range of views on its editorial page so that there is usually something for everyone, but I have to say that the superficiality and phenomenal ignorance of Ms Katrina Grace Kelly does try the nerves. It was her first four words that captured just how dull what she wrote was:

Put the arguments aside over whether it was wrong or right, and focus on what is significant – namely, the emotions that were expressed. On Australia Day eve, when in the presence of Scott Morrison, Grace Tame was visibly discomfited. Tame presented as angry and disgusted with the Prime Minister. These were personal feelings but, in their display, Tame conveyed the public mood of a large cohort.

If you “put the arguments aside” there is nothing left other than empty emotion. I realise Australian of the Year has tended to become Victim of the Year, but how astonishing is all of this. Anyway, I will go direct to the comments since this is obviously not a place into which I should venture. The first half dozen classified under “Most Liked”.

I quote: On Australia Day eve, when in the presence of Scott Morrison, Grace Tame was visibly discomfited. Tame presented as angry and disgusted with the Prime Minister. These were personal feelings but, in their display, Tame conveyed the public mood of a large cohort. Newsflash: Tame has done no such thing. She’s conveyed the mood of Leftist ideologues who never liked, will never like and will never, ever vote for Scott Morrison. Moreover, Tame doesn’t not speak for me. 

Seriously! has anyone actually travelled to regional Vic or even the CBD? Whole streets of boarded up shops. Victoria is a ghost town. Most of them now unfortunately have migrated to Qld.  Please don’t tell me they blame Morrison for any of the dismantling of Victoria. Speak to any sensible, normal person in Victoria and Daniel Andrews is despised.

Meanwhile in Qld, Anna is delighted about the Labor voting Victorians pouring into her state, many with her beliefs, of high debt and crook hospital systems are acceptable, ( until, of course, it affects them) as the Gold and Sunshine Coasts reel under the invasion of Southerners waving wads of money to get them to move, and pressure from Real Estate agents to move on, that is until they realise unless they downsize, there is nowhere to go, and not many want to move to the beachless, public service town of Brisbane. Qld. won the election for The Libs last time, and are likely to lose it for him this time, as their Premier “saved” them, and most would vote her back in tomorrow. Our country is coming to its nemesis as to which way to go, to follow the US on its path to semi destruction, to honour wokeness, or stay a strong country holding onto the beliefs of Democracy.  It’s your call.

So Dan Andrews locks down and ruins Victoria, and Scomo gets the blame? Give it a rest.

OMG! Down south suffering from the longest lockdown in the world by DA! No problems in Victoria caused by DA! ScoMo  is the one and only to blame for everything from the sun coming up in the morning to the stars coming out at night!

Um, there were lockdowns in Victoria that meant people from outside the state couldn’t go to Victoria, which the writer just seems to conveniently forget. As for Grace Tame, she acted like a petulant ungracious child. Supporting her behaviour demonstrates your own misunderstanding of the respect that should shown to our PM, especially when holding an important civic office such as Australian of the Year. Finally, we have all had a gut full of Australians of the Year parading themselves around as if they run the place, just as Tame has done. She was a very poor choice.I find it infuriating to constantly read media reports of a state minister or premier blaming the federal government for the failure of their own policies. It is worse when the journalists covering the story never point out the blame is misplaced.

I find it infuriating to constantly read media reports of a state minister or premier blaming the federal government for the failure of their own policies. It is worse when the journalists covering the story never point out the blame is misplaced.I find it infuriating to constantly read media reports of a state minister or premier blaming the federal government for the failure of their own policies. It is worse when the journalists covering the story never point out the blame is misplaced. Then there are opinion pieces like this attempting to reinforce the blame shift. Morrison and his government had no say over the lockdowns in any state. It is the same with aged care, the federal government supply the funds but the states are the ones who (mis)spend it. Use an article like this as exhibit one of why the public distrust all politicians equally as much as main stream media

Lots more just like these.