You, a fool: Politics is about winning over a coalition of voters so you can form a government in Parliament.
Patriarch of the political genius family the Downers:
Patriarch of the political genius family the Downers:
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AusPoliERA |OT| Section 44’d straight to Manus Island
- Thread starter Bernie Bernbaum
- Start date
In a recent episode of the podcast Mueller She Wrote, they mentioned Alexander Downer as part of the George Papadopolous affair and talked him up as some kind of a hero upholder of the Western Democratic Order.
If only they knew.
Does this mean I'm allowed to pick up a sofa and beat him around the head with it?
It's always funny when born to rulers aren't allowed to and they throw all their toys out of the pram.
I remember when he was the opposition leader when I was a kid and the next suburb over was Downer, named for his grandfather, and some wag hung a Keating banner over the suburb sign.
I remember when he was the opposition leader when I was a kid and the next suburb over was Downer, named for his grandfather, and some wag hung a Keating banner over the suburb sign.
Any chance you could post the full text? I don't have a subscription and would like to read the whole article.
EDIT: Nevermind, I found the full text.
It's actually an interesting read and a little more nuanced than the headline suggests. Feel free to have a read and make your own opinions.
https://unv.is/afr.com/opinion/colu...political-chaos-is-your-fault-20180923-h15qm1
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Here it is in full.
I don't think the analysis is very good, because it really only has two concrete examples; Hillary Clinton calling Trump voters deplorables, and energy policy.
The first has nothing to do with Australian politics.
The second reframes the paralysis over energy policy as the public's fault, because we keep changing our mind and have unrealistic expectations, but I can't square this with reality.
- The Coalition tried to pass an Emissions Trading Scheme in 2009. The right wing of the party killed it off then killed off Turnbull's leadership.
- The Labor Party did then pass a carbon tax, which would have transitioned into an emissions trading scheme. Again, the right wing of the Liberal Party killed if off in 2013.
- Abbott then signed the Paris agreement, which the public wanted, but miraculously found it a hugely problematic agreement on the backbench.
- Then the right wing of the party killed the NEG, and killed Turnbull again.
What's actually happening is that energy policy in Australia is the third rail for Liberal Party. The right wing of the party is funded by the mining lobby, who will swiftly and brutally decapitate any leader who tries to move us away from coal mines and coal fired power stations, because they know the game is very nearly up, and need to recoup their investments.
They are given intellectual cover for this by the climate change skeptics who feed the whole thing into their culture war about left wing scientific lies and how inner city elites are not living in the real world.
Bit of an aside, I also think that the Foreign Minister who got us into the Iraq War when the public was squarely against it, blaming the Australian public for being the cause of the nation's woes is some heinous shit.
I don't disagree with what you are saying, but at the same time, there has been a significant shift in politics and media landscapes in this country, and elsewhere. How people relate to and participate in the political process has shifted dramatically even compared to 10 years ago.
What I think has been one of the root causes of that is the increased weight and emphasis political parties and the media put on opinion polls. They are damaging and destructive to the political and policy-making process because they don't allow for long-term planning and execution to happen. One bad poll sets off a chorus of naysaying and unleashes the opinion of so-called experts. It's a vicious circle where any policy that is even remotely complicated or difficult is torn to shreds before it even has a chance to take effect.
So while Downer is wrong to put the blame on the people, he does have a point about the way the public and the media, and in turn, the politicians have become so reactionary to everything. We elect politicians to make the hard decisions, but then don't give them the benefit of time to show that their decisions are in our best interests.
One of the solutions that needs to be implemented is an extension of federal terms to 4 or 5 year fixed terms. That will give a decent amount of time to allow policies to take effect and will reduce the importance of bad opinion polls. The opinion polls wont matter until the final six months of a term, which means that governments can be more bold in their policy making.
What I think has been one of the root causes of that is the increased weight and emphasis political parties and the media put on opinion polls. They are damaging and destructive to the political and policy-making process because they don't allow for long-term planning and execution to happen. One bad poll sets off a chorus of naysaying and unleashes the opinion of so-called experts. It's a vicious circle where any policy that is even remotely complicated or difficult is torn to shreds before it even has a chance to take effect.
So while Downer is wrong to put the blame on the people, he does have a point about the way the public and the media, and in turn, the politicians have become so reactionary to everything. We elect politicians to make the hard decisions, but then don't give them the benefit of time to show that their decisions are in our best interests.
One of the solutions that needs to be implemented is an extension of federal terms to 4 or 5 year fixed terms. That will give a decent amount of time to allow policies to take effect and will reduce the importance of bad opinion polls. The opinion polls wont matter until the final six months of a term, which means that governments can be more bold in their policy making.
They are hyper obsessed with the polls you're right, but they're either unwilling or unable to confront what they actually mean.
Basically; there's no point changing a leader if you don't change policy. They keep changing leader but not policy and are surprised when it doesn't fix their problems. They don't even really understand what the public is saying so they think we're fickle.
Like take this paragraph;
There's no analysis here of what killed Turnbull with the public. Downer thinks it was enough that he was simply Prime Minister. Oh we wanted him, and then we got him, and we weren't happy. So fickle!
But why weren't we happy? It wasn't the public's aspiration Turnbull be PM in and of itself, it was that he was a moderate who would do something about climate change, about same sex marriage, about inequality.
But the reason he sunk in the polls is because it became obvious that there was going to be no significant policy changes under him, and he was going to keep everything Abbott put in place to keep the right wing of the party happy.
Basically; there's no point changing a leader if you don't change policy. They keep changing leader but not policy and are surprised when it doesn't fix their problems. They don't even really understand what the public is saying so they think we're fickle.
Like take this paragraph;
There's no analysis here of what killed Turnbull with the public. Downer thinks it was enough that he was simply Prime Minister. Oh we wanted him, and then we got him, and we weren't happy. So fickle!
But why weren't we happy? It wasn't the public's aspiration Turnbull be PM in and of itself, it was that he was a moderate who would do something about climate change, about same sex marriage, about inequality.
But the reason he sunk in the polls is because it became obvious that there was going to be no significant policy changes under him, and he was going to keep everything Abbott put in place to keep the right wing of the party happy.
https://theconversation.com/the-sta...ed-four-year-federal-terms-are-unlikely-56674
Seems the debate in Australia is ongoing, but for me, I hope that the advantages turn out to be real and not just smoke and mirrors.
Queensland will be going to a fixed 4-year term after the next election, so I will have a more informed opinion then, but I am a supporter of anything that provides more certainty and stability in government.
Not much nuance to me. It's classic rightwing opinion writing of the same ilk as typical Bolt, Alan Jones, Chris Kenny etc. Say some stuff seemingly persuasive but if you dig it at even a little deeper turns out it's all bullshit.
old chap alexander said:
Calls a carbon price, a carbon tax. Calls it regressive. Which something that is not a tax can not be.
While he could be right that a carbon price mechanism would lead to an increase in power prices that often affects the poor the most, he conveniently decides not to mention that the Gillard govt's scheme included overgenerous compensation to the poor etc. nearly anyone vulnerable was slightly better off
I wonder why that was. Tony Abbot parroting on, alan jones and whoever leaded a scare campaign probably didn't cause it right? The public inherently was already not happy I guess.
That politicians make unrealistic election promises and such is a problem yes. The public wants a magic pudding because politicians promise them anything and act like they can significantly affect cost of living prices and steer a global economy etc. Blaming the public for this seems a bit rich. Maybe it's a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario. Which came first politicians promising a magic pudding or the public expecting one? I think it's more likely politicians in power were feeling skittish at the prospect of losing power.
lol think we just had a coalition of chaos a few weeks ago
Also rich coming from the party that had to have a plebiscite for a bleeding obvious policy
He doesn't make that point though. No mention of the media and no introspection about politcians. He piles nearly all of it on the plate of the public who of the 3 are really the least at fault for the state of politics.
In frozen stone-fruit news, the Greens and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance are calling for ABC chairman Justin Milne to go, Labor seems undecided but unsatisfied at this stage (at least in terms of the official position, Doug Cameron had some pretty strong words). Staff are preparing a protest.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-...aging-director-told-to-sack-reporter/10305820
EDIT: It's all happening.
Justin Milne tried to stop Hottest 100 Australia Day move: 'Malcolm will go ballistic'
ABC chairman accused of interfering over Triple J countdown and demanding on-air apology after Tonightly program
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-...aging-director-told-to-sack-reporter/10305820
Wasn't sure what to make of the Michelle Guthrie situation but the points some made about her having to operate in a hostile environment sure seem valid.
EDIT: It's all happening.
Justin Milne tried to stop Hottest 100 Australia Day move: 'Malcolm will go ballistic'
ABC chairman accused of interfering over Triple J countdown and demanding on-air apology after Tonightly program
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Wew lad. I knew there was more to the story, but I never imagined anything like this level of interference.
Milne is done.
Milne is done.
Unfortunately, I don't think this will be investigated. Maybe the Greens will try to bring it up and it looks like Labor are asleep at the wheel with this and now that Milne is gone, that's probably the end of the controversy.
Didn't she herself say that her contract states she may be terminated without cause and with immediate effect? I"m not sure how strong a case for wrongful dismissal may be with such a clause.
Although it turned out Milne was a bigger problem, it didn't seem like Guthrie was particularly good at her job either.
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Ah I had read she had lawyered up and figured that was the go. Don't know about her contract.
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-police-officer-charged-over-threatening-call
I'd say this is another example of a messed up NSW institution, but of course the odds that every police force in the country isn't harbouring virulent misogynists are Buckley's and none.
This is an existential threat to the entirety of human civilisation and they're pissy that it'll end up causing a minor drag on productivity.
The worst part of the Opera House debacle is that both sides of government seem to support the idea of using it for advertising.
On climate change, Labor has been awfully mum about it, have they not? Maybe afraid of a backlash from talkback listeners, but I sincerely hope they still have a policy to take proper action.
On climate change, Labor has been awfully mum about it, have they not? Maybe afraid of a backlash from talkback listeners, but I sincerely hope they still have a policy to take proper action.
Labor have just proposed a Clean Energy Target and an Emissions Trading Scheme, which was what the Carbon Tax was eventually supposed to transition into in 2015 before Abbott killed it.
It basically doesn't get reported on because it's uncontroversial in the Labor Party, and the Greens have pledged to support it so it'd likely sail through as soon as they controlled Parliament.
It basically doesn't get reported on because it's uncontroversial in the Labor Party, and the Greens have pledged to support it so it'd likely sail through as soon as they controlled Parliament.
Shorten needs to up his rhetoric though. The dude us trying to win on 'lower taxes' now which is just driving me nuts. Have a principled platform. Same applies to Foley who is somehow worse
Foley is a dirtbag and a disgrace and I wish NSW Labor would replace him. I cannot vote for Labor while he is leader.
Looks like the Ruddock religious freedom review has already backfired.
Shorten and Morrison are making noises now about how the right of religious schools to expel LGBTQ kids should be revoked, not expanded.
Given the whole thing was a sop to appease social conservatives after getting thumped in the SSM plebiscite, this could upset them a lot.
Shorten and Morrison are making noises now about how the right of religious schools to expel LGBTQ kids should be revoked, not expanded.
Given the whole thing was a sop to appease social conservatives after getting thumped in the SSM plebiscite, this could upset them a lot.
I don't want to become a one issue voter but for me climate change policy is the number 1 factor in who I vote for. The entire future of the human race is at stake and any party who doesn't have a serious policy regarding this should not be in power.
Also on a less scary note it will also determine how well Australia's economy transitions over the next few decades. Coal is going to get phased out and as the effects of global warming become more apparent this phasing out will only quicken. We don't want to be an economy who is totally reliant on coal. The sooner we can transition the better.