New Politics: Australian Politics, News, Analysis & Commentary

Everyone is talking about the coronavirus but, unlike most of the media and most of the government, we'll leave the medical debate to the medical fraternity and discuss the politics and economics of the crisis instead. And it is going to cause a recession in Australia and a wide range of problems for the Liberal–National Government. But stimulus is also occupying a great amount of space and, at long last, the LNP is implementing measures to save the economy. Is it a case of too little, too late? Should have gone hard, gone fast, and gone households instead, and the economy is going to suffer. Yes, it's too late.

Who’s got time for caretaker conventions when there's an election to be won? Conservative governments are very keen to break conventions and protocols and perhaps it's time for laws rather than protocols. There are no repercussions for breaking conventions and we're applying 19th century rules to 21st century politics. It's time for a rethink.

And has the media started a slow turning of the tide against Scott Morrison? We think so, and after giving Morrison so much support when he became Prime Minister in 2018 and in the lead-up to the 2019 election, the media is going harder and asking tougher questions. It's about 18 months too late, but better late than never.

Another year, another round of political corruption to deal with. Scott Morrison claimed "a miracle" caused him to win the 2019 election but, as with most claims of divine intervention, that old human frailty of vice and corruption proved to be the real answer. The Liberal–National Government had a cash splash fund of almost $500 million dollars to throw at marginal and Coalition-held seats – funding programs that had no guidelines, no application forms, little oversight, and a rorting scheme that Vladimir Putin could be proud of.

And if that wasn't enough, the Australian Federal Police dropped the forgery case against Angus Taylor: nothing to see here, please move along. It's obvious the Liberal–National Government is too close to the AFP – the AFP investigates the issues that are favourable to the government, but ignores the issues that are unfavourable to the government. It's not the way an open and democratic system should operate, and trust in government is plummeting even further.

So what can be done about this? We commence our series on solutions to a sick democracy, and make suggestions for how to improve accountability in the parliament: an independent speaker and ditching the Dorothy Dix questions. That would be a good start.

The climate change debate is heating up to a temperature even hotter than the NSW bushfires. Just as the Prime Minister has decided to take a holiday somewhere in the Pacific and instructing the media not to report that he was actually on leave. To their shame, many in media acceded to the Prime Minister's wish: so much for the Your Right To Know campaign. What a facade.

People are angry about climate change, but it's not just the conservative side of politics that is suffering the opprobrium: the biggest howls of abuse at the recent climate change rally in the centre of Sydney was reserved for the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, even though Labor isn't the government. This is a problem for Labor, but how will they deal with this issue?

The year began with a lie, and ended with a lie. Angus Taylor, the Minister who is the gift to the Opposition that just keeps on giving, decided to just keep lying about seeing Naomi Wolf at Oxford in 1991, even though she left three years before. Even when faced with irrefutable evidence, the government doubles down and keeps up with the fabrication. They're worse than troublesome kindergarten kids that can just never give up the lie.

And did someone mention new books? Yes, we have a new book coming out: Divided Opinions, coming out in January 2020. It's a review of the 2019 year in politics. It's must. have material. Keep a look out for on our website.

Democracy fell down a few rungs when Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, used forged documents to attack an opponent. Did he know they were forged? Did he forge the documents himself? Answers to these questions need to be provided. Why has public trust in the political processes dived so dramatically since 2013? Hint: That's when Tony Abbott became Prime Minister, but are there other factors contributing to this demoralising issue?

The Labor Party has released its review into the 2019 Federal Election, and are busy assessing why they lost and how they can improve their chances in the 2022 election. Will they be successful? Labor always seems to need a charismatic leader to take them on the path away from the wilderness. Is Anthony Albanese the one to do this?

While half of Australia has been burning, conservative political leaders have been quick to blame "inner-city, chardonnay, latte-sipping, raving lunatics". But let's not play politics, the Prime Minister and NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said so. And "today is not the day" to make the link between climate change and severe bushfire activity. Just because. Climate change politics is at its most destructive level ever, and the Liberal–National Party fiddle while New South Wales and Queensland burn away. Something needs to change.

Scott Morrison has been to Washington and back, and a State Dinner was held in his honour. While grandstanding and hurling insults at China might not be the best way to protect a $40 billion per year export market, there must be wiser heads within the government providing advice, and they certainly would know what they are doing. Wouldn't they? There was much talk about the entourage at the US State Dinner – it certainly didn't comprise the "quiet Australians" that won the surprise victory at the 2019 election for the Liberals, but the captains of industry and some of the wealthiest people in Australia. And who wasn't there also caused problems for Scott Morrison – his mentor, Brian Houston, wasn't permitted to attend the dinner by the US State Department. Still under investigation for failing to report child sexual abuse allegations against his father, this was something even this White House administration couldn't tolerate. And under this administration, that's really saying something.

And in surprise news, a QAnon adherent is appearing to be a close friend of the Prime Minister. Sure, Prime Ministers need to mix with a wide range of people so they can easily keep their finger on the pulse of the nation – but QAnon? It's a radical conspiracy theory that believes in lizards ruling the world, pedophiles controlling the universities and media, and Donald Trump is apparently the one that will save the world. Without a clear and obvious agenda, this government is rambling and there's always external people willing to step in and assist – people such as QAnon adherents, the Institute of Public Affairs… and the mainstream media.

Australia has a new ambassador… but not of the kind that we know of. The government has enlisted the media celebrity, Scott Cam, for ambassadorial services to promote trades among the youth of today. Very meritorious, of course, but where is the support program for this? Where are the apprenticeships? This Liberal Government has cut $3 billion from vocational education and national apprenticeships but, it's OK. Appointing a media celebrity is the best way to gloss over any problems.

There's a disaster facing the Australian economy and, unfortunately, the best the Liberal–National Government can do is blame the Labor Party – even though they haven't been in office since 2013 – or blame the Reserve Bank of Australia, or talk about the Sea of Tranquility which, according to the planetary atlas, is somewhere near the dark side of the moon. Why is Josh Frydenberg talking up the first current account surplus in 44 years? Or the 2.6% increase in employment numbers? Because the economy is tanking and the Government needs distractions, left, right and centre. Anything to avoid responsibility.

The “compassionate conservative" does seem like a contradiction of terms. And it is. You can virtually add “compassionate” to anything to make it seem better and so it is with a wide range of harsh and destructive neo-liberal social policies that the LNP Government wants to introduce. The Indue cashless welfare card, drug testing of social security recipients. Masking it as a process of compassion means the electorate will more readily swallow these programs that realign social capital to private interests, never to return to the public.

Do we need to talk about Albo? Anthony Albanese has been the leader of the Labor Party for just over three months but, already, under his leadership, Labor has waved through tax cuts for high-income earners, embraced the coal industries in Newcastle and Queensland, offered support for the Government's religious discrimination act and now, is supporting the current levels of public funding for private schools. There are limits to how much an Opposition can mimic the government of the day: the Labor Party base is unhappy. How much is enough and is this a high risk strategy?

We are very impressed to hear there is a new part of the political lexicon: unfunded empathy. It's the bureaucratic way of saying: "get %$knF!!" and we are just wondering how many focus groups were needed to test this one, because it's an absolute beauty. It helped to dismiss calls for a raise in Newstart spontaneously and, simultaneously, protects the Coalition’s golden $7 billion Budget surplus. With, of course, a little help from friends in the media, who were eager to splash the ‘dole bludger’ story for a few days: mission accomplished.

Another stunning piece of political sloganeering reappeared, with the Prime Minister asking: “whose side are you on?". It's a loaded question, it's divisive, but it works a treat. It's what conservative politicians love to do – use seemingly innocuous statements that become something a long more sinister. "For all of us" [but not for them]. "We're on your side" [but not theirs].

You are either with us, or against us. You have to choose.

But with the government struggling for a post-election political narrative, diversions are needed to occupy our time, and deciding “whose side are you on” will take up months of discussion and political space.

Did anyone mention nuclear power? Yes! Again and again, and the Minister for Energy has called for a review into the feasibility of nuclear power in Australia. The report from the review is due at the end of 2019, but we can tell you now what the conclusions will be. It should be a simple matter of a "cut and paste" job from those reviews performed in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and, more recently, 2006. Nuclear power will never be delivered in Australia. It's unviable politically and economically.

Nuclear and breast feeding? Is there a relationship? Yes, but only in political terms. Breast feeding, like nuclear power, is being used as a classic diversionary tactic. The Government wants the conversation to be about the issues that it either doesn't care about, or doesn't think will ever happen, so it can cover up its many misfortunes. So, nuclear and breast feeding it is. This will keep everyone preoccupied, while the Government tries to work out what it's doing.

And we provide a constitutional solution to the Section 44 citizenship debacle. It won't save Josh Frydenberg with his High Court referral for now, because we'll have to hold a referendum first, but it's a worthy solution.

Democracy is being held hostage by the adversarial nature of party politics. The people deserve better and a democracy upgrade is long overdue. Is democracy broken? Do we need a blueprint for change? If it's broken, how do we fix it?

Kim Wingerei is an author and political commentator, and discusses his book with the co-host of New Politics, David Lewis. Why Democracy Is Broken: A Blueprint for Change offers directions and solutions that we all need to consider for a better democratic future and a political system that acts in the interests of all people.

Surprised by their surprise 2019 election victory, the Liberal-National Party is searching for an agenda to implement over the next term of Parliament, and trying to convince the public it's all about religious freedom, industrial relations, cutting red tape, green tape, and every other colour of tape. The only problem is that this is as surprising as their surprise election victory. These are issues barely discussed during the election campaign. The LNP won the election, but do they really need to let people know what they plan to do beforehand? Depends on who you talk to.

Mandates? Do these still exist? Tony Abbott had a massive victory in 2013, but proceeded to implement all of the ideas he'd never spoken about with the electorate. And he suffered. Scott Morrison has a bare one (or two) seat majority and he already is saying he has a mandate to introduce his massive tax cut package, which provides huge benefits to high-income earners in the year 2025 and beyond. Is he correct? Again, depends on who you talk to.

Leadership ballots by party memberships were considered to be quaint and oldie-worldie – why get the unwashed masses to vote on the leadership of the party? Because that's how democracy should work. Labor has just held its second rank-and-file leadership ballot, and it works just like a treat. The UK Conservatives have a similar leadership process, and it's time for the Liberal Party to join this new style of leadership selection.

And why are so many people disappointed with Anthony Albanese? Steady on everyone: the job of the Leader of the Opposition just after a crushing election loss is the most thankless task in politics. He's only been there for one month. And there's 34 months before the next election.

Apologies if our 2019 Election Wrap-Up special episode is late but we had to wait until every postal vote had been received and counted, and see if there was any sign of a late swing. Of which, there was none. The Liberal–National Party has been returned to government for a third consecutive term and we really cannot think of a more undeserving government. But, that's democracy in action: the electorate chose more of the same, and it seems they couldn't stomach the idea of Bill Shorten as Prime Minister of Australia.

Was it Bill Shorten, or were there other factors in play? Elections are never won or lost on just the one issue, and we think it was a combination of media indifference to Labor, too many policy targets, and the small matter of $80 million worth of advertising racked up by Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party. The Liberal–National Party won the social media infowars – by a long shot – and it's an issue all parties will need to look at in future elections.

The opinion polls were completely wrong, and it's a niche industry that will need to redefine itself if the public is to ever take polling seriously again. Labor has a new leader – Anthony Albanese – and we think he will be a fine match for Prime Minister Scott Morrison. We'll be providing more analysis post-election – that is, if we are allowed to report on these matters, and avoid scrutiny from the Australian Federal Police.