Yeah yeah
I know this is off topic, but I like it so much.
howard , downer and wooldridge were the fcukwits that trashed australia
You’re having a laugh. Howard? One of the longest serving prime ministers in recent times. Like or not a bit rich trying to blame him for the country’s ills.
crimes against humanity - just for political points
Tampa affair - Wikipedia SIEV X - Wikipedia
howard is just scum and has no place in a pantheon of great australians
and fcuked if I can be bothered to educate you - you believe what you want
Bookmakers still have Labour as favourites, however odds are shortening. May be closer than we think.
I may not vote and opt to pay the $20 fine, I just don’t feel like encouraging the pricks.
BTW - Baldrick, you are a far left nutcase
Will Australia’s Election Be a Reckoning for Morrison on Climate?
Australia is a land of portent for the many dangers posed by climate change. The fires, storms, heat waves and other catastrophes that climatologists predict for the planet are already routine here. They also loom over national elections on May 21.
Not for the first time. Two of the country’s last three elections hinged in some measure on the climate-versus-jobs debate, with Mother Nature losing out. But recently the political temperature has changed. The rising toll exacted by extreme weather — particularly mega-fires in 2019 and 2020 — is resonating with the public.
That’s bad news for Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Climate inaction helped to propel Mr. Morrison to the leadership of the conservative Liberal-National coalition in 2018, but he’s in a tough fight now. Polls this week showed the opposition Labor Party with 51 percent of votes, to 49 percent for the coalition. If that bears out, Australia may serve not merely as a preview of climate peril, but of the risks faced by politicians who shrug it off.
Ignoring climate concerns wasn’t always a weak point for Mr. Morrison. The coalition government that he now leads was first elected in 2013 in part on a promise to rescind attempts at carbon pricing by the previous Labor government. This policy won support from the mining lobby and voters who were fed fearful rhetoric about environmentalism’s relentless creep on local industry and jobs. It was an effective strategy in a country that is a major exporter of fossil fuels and home of the world’s largest coal port. A belt of parliamentary seats runs through communities where well-paid jobs in mines represent rare and precious economic opportunity and carry enough weight to influence elections.
Mr. Morrison became prime minister in an internal party coup. The moderate policy ambitions of his more liberal colleague and predecessor Malcolm Turnbull, which included action on climate, fatally alienated him from caucus allies to his right, especially those with links to the fossil fuel lobby. Mr. Morrison stared down pro-climate caucus rivals and vaulted into office.
Australians didn’t know much about Mr. Morrison when he contested his first election as prime minister in May 2019. He’d only been in office nine months. But he had provided ample clues, scolding students who protested his government’s climate inaction to leave it to the grown-ups, suggesting electric vehicles posed a threat to fun weekends, and brandishing a lump of coal in Parliament like a beloved pet rock in 2017 when he was treasurer.
Lagging behind Labor for most of that campaign, Mr. Morrison was saved when an ill-conceived convoy of well-funded environmentalists traveled to mining towns already struggling with high unemployment to campaign against a major coal project. Mr. Morrison reframed anti-climate politics as pro-jobs, won the mining towns and held onto power by one seat.
Politically rewarded, he has relentlessly maintained his anti-climate brand, balking at defining a path toward net-zero targets, and embracing coal mines.
But the great fires that swept across Australia soon after Mr. Morrison’s victory changed the country. From July 2019, dry conditions and high heat — local symptoms of climate change — kindled mega-fires across the island continent. Bone-dry pastures, riverbeds and forests offered no resistance.
Landscapes disappeared under red skies, yellow smoke and a stench of ash that clung to everything. At least 60 million acres — about the size of the United Kingdom — were torched, nearly three billion animals perished or were displaced, and 34 people were killed. Smoke pollution was linked to hundreds more deaths. Damage was estimated at $100 billion.
The smoke choked cities and lungs. It stuck to skin and stung eyes. We packed our cars with all the precious things we could carry, constantly checking our phones for the emergency signal to run.
Turns out, our prime minister had run off already — on a secret family holiday to Hawaii. His office refused to confirm it until pictures surfaced on Instagram showing Mr. Morrison frolicking in Waikiki. Back home, wildlife rescuers uploaded videos of screaming koalas with third-degree burns.
Mr. Morrison acknowledged the “horrendous” toll and conceded that climate change had played a role in the fires, but otherwise deflected responsibility. He cut short his holiday but quipped, “I don’t hold a hose, mate.”
When he visited the scorched town of Cobargo, he was heckled by angry residents.
Today, protesters ambush Mr. Morrison on the campaign trail wearing Hawaiian shirts, the avatar for all of his political failures: a scandal-prone cabinet; the slow pace of the vaccine rollout during the pandemic; a widening gap between inflation and wage growth. Climate change isn’t necessarily the top concern of voters. But it has become a constant source of anxiety as the disasters continue. This year, eastern Australia experienced record rainfall which submerged towns and killed at least 22 people. But hard-hit areas went without adequate relief funds. When government help did not arrive, townships crowd-funded for deliveries by private helicopters. As of last weekend, some towns are underwater for the third time in a year.
Urban voters who once had a home in Mr. Turnbull’s Liberal Party are running angry pro-climate independent campaigns across must-win city seats. Mr. Morrison’s rivals in the center-left Labor Party are playing it safe, voicing qualified support for coal mines while embracing President Biden’s platform of job creation through climate action. Meanwhile, conservative attempts to revive old fears of the net-zero emissions boogeyman are backfiring even in their traditional heartlands.
Yet Mr. Morrison has clung to the old fear-mongering. Australians are learning the hard way, however, that denial offers no protection when floodwaters are rising. In his climate-altered country, Mr. Morrison’s failure to absorb that lesson threatens to sweep him away, too.
Last edited by S Landreth; 21-05-2022 at 04:53 AM.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Polls open. Let the count begin. Will it be the Liberal National Coalition again, Labour or a hung parliament requireing formation of another coalition?
My 'vote' is for a Labour majority, no hung Parliament. Then again I didn't think Trump stood a chance.
All the focus and discussions are about the 'Lower House', but you need a majority or a consensus on Independents/Greens in the Senate to get legislation passed.
Hold the Foam ... Stop the Presses. The Australian Election has been decided!
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Massive 'psychic' crocodile named Speckles predicts the 2022 Australian election result ... so does he like the taste of a PM Albanese or Morrison?
- Huge 35 year old saltie backed Labor leader Anthony Albanese to become PM
- 'Speckles' rejected a lunch hung under Scott Morrison's photo after nibbling at it
- The croc echoed an 'intuitive astrologer' who also backed Albo for the lodge
- The latest polls show the May 21 federal election could be too close to call
Speckles, a huge saltwater crocodile believed to weigh up to 800kg, was offered the choice of lunches dangled beneath photos of Scott Morrison or Anthony Albanese near Darwin this week.
Speckles, a 35 year old crocodile at Crocodylus Park, aimed for Mr Morrison's meal, but appeared not to like the taste of it.
Albo or Scomo? Massive psychic crocodile Speckles predicts 2022 federal election winner | Daily Mail Online
Looks like the Libs are in for a drubbing- Dutton and Frydenberg are in trouble- and third parties or Independents are performing strongly.
Fair way to go, but the main question seems to be between a labour majority or a hung Parliament. On yer bike scomo!
Oh, and in spite of all of the money spent- the United Australia party are getting nowhere.
Under the UN Convention on Refugees at Sea, the master of the Tampa should have proceeded to his original destination, which was Singapore. By diverting to Australian territory he broke the convention not Howard, although as the refugees used threats of self harm to force the master to do so it could be argued that was an act of piracy.
And of course there was the matter of the “refugees” country shopping instead of seeking safe haven in the first acceptable country as they should have under UN convention.
So accusing Howard of crimes against humanity is rather ridiculous, compared to what is going on now in Ukraine.
18 seats still undecided, Labour only need 4 to form a government. Looks a fairly safe bet.
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