New Politics: Australian Politics, News, Analysis & Commentary

Scare campaigns need to have a semblance of truth behind them to work effectively and Labor’s strategy of making pensioners think they’ll have their income managed through the cashless debit card if the Coalition wins the federal election, does gave some solid foundations. For a start: the scheme already exists. And the legislation to apply the scheme to age pensions also exists. And footage of many ministers outlining their support for the scheme – that also exists as well.

Is it a “scare campaign” if it’s actually close to the truth? The media has been quick to point out that it is, and make the claim it’s hurting pensioners to have this “scare” aired in public, even though they didn’t seem so concerned during the 2019 election campaign, when they were very happy to talk up “Labor’s retiree tax”, even though such a plan has never existed, and never will.

But given Scott Morrison was the architect of the disastrous “Robodebt” scheme – which cost the Australian taxpayers $1.2 billion – and was also Minister for Social Services when the Indue card trial was implemented, it’s likely that he’d also like to apply this draconian system to age pensioners. Why? Because that’s who he is.

“Where’s the money going to come from?” It’s a question asked of Labor, but never of the Coalition, even though the answer is the same for both parties. The money comes from the Reserve Bank of Australia, as it always has. Why do political journalists continue to humiliate themselves by asking the most basic questions available to them?

The opinions polls are still pointing towards a Labor victory at the next election, although a hung parliament is also a distinct possibility. If this comes into play, who would the crossbench support? It’s quite possible their numbers could come up to 13 and, as most of these would be taking seats away from the Liberal Party, would they support the Liberal Party to form government? It’s unlikely: all of these independents are campaigning strongly on several key issues – climate change, integrity in politics, women’s safety, corruption and mismanagement.

It would be hard for them to support the Liberal Party, considering their lack of action on all of these issues over the past nine years.

And it’s still quite predictable: the media has an intense dislike of Anthony Albanese, and doesn’t it show. He’s the man who cannot do anything right. He’s on stage at the Byron Bay Bluesfest: he ‘gatecrashed’, that’s obviously wrong.

He wins the leaders debate on Sky News, 40 to 35 in an audience of 100 undecided voters: but the public doesn’t understand, so that result is obviously wrong too – Albanese didn’t win, Scott Morrison did. And, oh goodness me, now he’s gone off to catch COVID: that’s obviously wrong and it’s an absolute disaster and ‘nightmare’ for Albanese and Labor’s campaign! (hint: no, it’s not really).

Australia has a paucity of quality political journalism and it’s a pity so many journalists swayed towards the one-sided disaster-style reporting when Albanese revealed he had contracted COVID. They could have thought a little more creatively and looking at the possibility that it might actually work in Labor’s favour. But squawking from the sidelines is far easier and far more enjoyable. And what better to make people disengage from politics by telling everyone how “boring” and “dismal” the election campaign.

Who’s got time to report on the important matters?

A very hostile first media conference for Anthony Albanese in the marginal seat of Bass in Tasmania, where he couldn’t answer or gave the wrong answers to two questions from a journalist: what’s the Reserve Bank’s cash rate, and what is the official unemployment rate.

A classic ‘gotcha’ question from the media, and it’s just another example of how poor political journalism is in Australia, where the value of catching a politician out – and getting the headline propaganda – is placed far higher than providing a vision for the future of this country, which is sorely needed after nine years of driftless and aimless government provided by the Liberal–National Coalition.

But, these are rules of the game: Albanese should have known these figures or, at the least, had a strategy for dealing with this situation, which inevitably happens during an election campaign.

If only he’d been quick enough to recite three words – “Google it, mate” – and all would have been forgiven. Adam Bandt from the Australian Greens put a journalist in his place for asking a ridiculous ‘gotcha’ question, but it’s unlikely to stop journalists from asking these inane questions, because the current crop of Australian journalists don’t have the intellect or depth of knowledge to provide a clearer analysis: best to trip over a political leader, and that’s the day’s work day. And if they’re lucky, score an invitation to the Prime Minister’s private drinks session for the travelling media: you never know who you might meet there and, hopefully snort some free cocaine in the Nepean Rowers Club bathrooms.

Labor does receive different treatment from the media, there’s no questions about this: hostility and impatient demands for answers are always made of Labor Party leaders; for Scott Morrison, any answer will do – whether it’s correct or not, doesn’t really matter either – and then it’s off for some photo opportunities at a sewing machine centre in western Sydney, or shooting some hoops at a basketball court in Melbourne. Morrison is the media’s man: he can do no wrong, because he’s the convenient idiot for the media moguls. Or perhaps the Manchurian Candidate, but that might be a bit too sophisticated for legacy media, which prefers to glide with those in power, rather than hold power to account.

Will this cost Albanese the election? Elections are more than just about first-day blunders: this election should be about climate change, cost of living pressures, wage stagnation, a lack of action for bushfire and flood victims, saving Medicare, women’s safety, the failures in the vaccination rollout and quarantine measures, incompetence, corruption, and all the rorting.

These are the issues the election should be about, not about who can recite random statistics on a podium. The media is trying to hoodwink the electorate: they’re as evil and insipid as the Liberal Party that they keep cheering for. It’s just a question of whether the electorate can see through this, or keep swallowing the lies they’re been happily accepting over the past nine years.

We’ve never seen a government in so much trouble entering an election campaign and it’s just a question of whether Scott Morrison has the political skills to turn matters around. But before everyone starts drawing a line through the Liberal–National Coalition and ending nine years of brutally poor government and incompetence, it has to be remembered that we’ve seen this story before – 2016 and 2019 – when a divided Coalition was expected to at least lose one of those elections – 2019 – before being return by a wafer-thin majority on both occasions.

But as bad as a government has been for most of its existence, it only has to be on its best behaviour for five weeks – the length of the election campaign – of a 156-week parliamentary term, and all sins can be forgotten by the electorate. That is what Scott Morrison is hoping for. The big problem this time around is Morrison is not an unknown figure: the electorate suspects that he’s working for someone else, and not for the Australian electorate. They suspect he lies for most of the time, even when he doesn’t need to; they suspect that he’s incompetent, and they suspect that he might even be corrupt.

He’s also looking for the same tactics and election tricks that worked so well for him during the 2019 election – the photo opportunities, the grand misrepresentation of Labor policies, and Bill Shorten the bogeyman, also known as the “Bill Australia can’t afford”. Again, it’s 2022, and it’s all so different. The electorate is tiring of the endless photo opportunities; they’ve worked Morrison out. Bill Shorten is no longer the leader of the Labor Party, replaced by the innocuous and inoffensive Anthony Albanese – but after years of division promoted by Morrison at every opportunity, being innocuous and inoffensive might be just what the election is looking for as they enter the third year of this COVID pandemic.

The free character assessments offered by Liberal Party MP – and the long-departed Michael Towke, who reappeared like Banquo’s ghost after 15 years in exile, reminding the world what the media would hope would be forgotten – the brutal attack on him by Scott Morrison in the 2007 Liberal Party preselection battle in Cook. The media will do whatever they can to justify and promote the return of the Morrison government, even though it’s patently clear – especially over the past three years – that this is not a government worth saving. It might fall on deaf ears anyway: based on what all the polls are saying, it might not matter anymore, and the Liberal Party is heading for a period in exile, so it can lick its wounds, and return as a much better political party.

Jane Caro is a social commentator, writer, academic and public education advocate. And she's running as a Senate candidate for the Reason Party – David Lewis caught up with her to talk about public education, aged care and the upcoming election campaign. If Labor manages to win the next election – and Caro also manages to enter the Senate – we could be in for some interesting times as far as reform of the education and age care sectors are concerned. But, first things first: there’s an election campaign to be held and the election in May.

It’s going to be a wild ride.

The Budget was announced this week, and not only was it one of the most political ever, it was also one of the most expensive job applications in history for the federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who is clearly angling for the leadership of the Liberal Party after the next election, win or lose.

Is this a good Budget? Budgets should be all about the community and the economy but, once again, the media has focused on whether the Budget will be enough to get the Coalition government re-elected or not, which seems to totally miss the point of national finances.

And is this government incompetent, or is its mismanagement – inaction on climate change, bushfires, flooding, vaccination rollout – a deliberate strategy by design? Many people have suggested it’s impossible for a government to be so incompetent, and the Morrison government is following in the footsteps of the Bush administration in the United States: deliberate incompetence and recklessness that opens up the pathway for an obscene ideology that brings in all the spivs, charlatans, and private operators. Everything is against the public interest and in favour of the chosen few.

We’ve had yet another once-in-3500 years weather event in Lismore and northern New South Wales. And, once again, government has acted slowly and its response has been too late. This is an issue that is going to feature in the background of the federal election campaign, once it is announced.

Labor preselections always seem to attract controversy, especially when a white male economist from an affluent area is parachuted into a diverse multicultural western Sydney seat. Should parties insert high quality candidates into winnable seats, or choose the local who works the branches for many years, and ends up doing nothing once they become the MP?

This, of course, is an issue. But nothing compared to the criticism being thrown at Scott Morrison by his own side of politics. Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has, effectively, been dumped by the Liberal Party and her final speech in the Senate shared her opinion of Morrison as a bully who is unfit to be Prime Minister and lacks a moral compass.

There’s no come back for Morrison. Fierravanti-Wells is leaving politics but it appears there might be quite a few of her Liberal Party colleagues following her at the next election, whenever it is held.

The electorate in South Australia has removed a one-term Liberal Party government and installed a Labor government under Peter Malinauskas. And with a state election so close to a federal election, will there be any implications for Scott Morrison?

We keep being told that there’s no relationship between state and federal issues, but we think there is much for the Morrison government to be worried about. In almost every election result since the pandemic commenced, aside from a state election victory in Tasmania, there hasn’t been very much good news for the Liberal–National Coalition.

A byelection loss in Eden–Monaro, general election losses in Western Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory, ACT and South Australia, even a 3.5% swing against the Coalition in the Queensland byelection in Groom. Massive byelection swings in New South Wales. This is not really a recipe for success, if the federal government is looking for any guidance.

And if the federal government is not having much success in the management of the economy, the bushfires, the floods, COVID… and pretty much every else we’d expect from government, what better way to distract the public than highlighting factional problems in the Labor Party.

The media’s behaviour – and that of the Coalition – has been unedifying in reporting on the death of Kimberley Kitching, and the innuendos, gossip and half-truths about Labor Party factions. Anything at all to smear Labor and try to prove to the public that Labor is unworthy of high office.

The only problem is that very few people in the media understand what factions are – and the Liberal Party does have them too, despite what Malcolm Turnbull suggested several years ago – but presenting the idea of “factions: bad”, and something that only exists in the Labor Party is all the media is interested in.

The polls keep getting worse for Scott Morrison and qualitative research confirms that the Prime Minister is considered to be incompetent and untrustworthy. If a half-decent Premier in South Australia is given a 5% swing against and thrown out of office, what type of punishment will be inflicted upon the Morrison government?

Budget week will provide a few more answers and it will be the last chance for the federal government to turn everything around – and also a last chance for the Liberal Party to make a leadership change before the election: if it does indeed come to that. That’s how bad it has become.

It was Anthony Albanese’s turn to appear on 60 Minutes, but not as much enthusiasm as they displayed for Scott Morrison, even though more people tuned in to watch Albanese, compared to Morrison’s episode several weeks earlier. And his appearance brought the ire of Morrison, who complained about Albanese’s weight loss, his lack of interest in Italian cakes and his choice of glasses. In Morrison’s mind, these are critical issues for choosing a prime minister and it explains why his time as prime minister has been a disaster.

In his attacks on Albanese, Morrison claimed “he's not pretending to be someone else” – except for sheep shearer, hair beautician, racing car driver, carpenter, barre dancer, gnocchi maker, chef, court sweeper, ukulele musician, a pilot. If these are Morrison’s ambitions, he should follow his dreams and allow someone else to become the prime minister but, with the opinion polls still pointing to a Coalition loss at the next federal election, perhaps the decision is going to be made for him.

Senator Kimberley Kitching died last week and the grieving hadn’t even started before the media started blaming the Labor Party for causing her death. It was unedifying and yet another example of the mediocre standards of the Australian mainstream media, and how willing they are to support anything that is detrimental to the progress of the Labor Party.

When Don Randall died in 2015, there was no discussion of the “stress of the job”, or Liberal Party preselection issues. But when it’s a Labor parliamentarian, it’s an open attack and no point is too low to go to.

And election signage is causing problems in Melbourne. Michael Sukkar and Tim Wilson rarely do anything in Parliament – their ideological pursuits are based on that libertarian theme of no government at all, but they’ll jump to action when it comes to election posters. Wilson has actually gone to the Supreme Court to stop his opponent, Zoe Daniel, from putting up election posters. Parliamentary work: forget it. But work to get yourself re-elected into parliament to not actually do anything: that’s a definite yes. Wilson has got his priorities all wrong.

And we feature Sahar Khalili from the Fusion Party, candidate in the federal seat of Reid. It’s an amalgamation of several minor parties and find out what their ambitions are for federal politics and the future.

Dedicated to the memory of Senator Kimberley Kitching.

The floods in northern NSW and Queensland are causing major political headaches for the Morrison government and, as the floodwaters flow back into the oceans, their ideological obsession with small government has been laid bare.

Communities expect governments to act when events occur that are beyond their control and beyond their abilities to repair. Otherwise, what is the point of government? Are they not also made up from the people that live in these communities? Scott Morrison’s response has been haphazard, confused, illogical and, when it finally arrived, it was far too late.

And with an election around the corner, the federal government’s chances are receding as quickly as the northern waters.

Although current polls are indicated a change of government is in the air, Morrison has to continue what he has always been doing – announcing. A nuclear submarines base has been “announced” to be built in either Brisbane, Newcastle or Wollongong – areas where the Coalition needs to hold seats, or gain seats, if wants to have any chance of an election victory in May.

But these three locations are not even in the top five recommended by the Australian Defence Force, but why should this matter if there’s an election to be won? And for the most “transactional” Prime Minister has ever seen, this is all that matters: the public interest comes a distance last.

And what type of company does Peter Dutton keep? The Minister for Defence has some very peculiar relationships with a few Brisbane-based companies who, in turn, donate to the Liberal–National Party. It’s a stark reminder the Joh Bjelke-Petersen corruption of the 1970s and 1980s has never really disappeared: different faces, different characters, but the same old malfeasance. If only we had a federal anti-corruption commission that could look into these activities.

It was also International Women’s Day this week: it seems Morrison was too busy to make any announcements or statements about IWD, but after his performances in 2019 and 2021, it’s probably a good thing he kept quiet. Anything he says will remind the election about the incredibly low number of women in the Coalition – just 21 per cent – and who wants to be reminded of that?

And we might see another one-term government next week, with the South Australia Government facing a 5 per cent swing against it, and facing a loss of at least four seats. It’s a part of an international swing against the conservative regimes who want to see their role reduced, at a time when electorates are seeking more involvement of governments during an insecure and unpredictable time.

The war in Russian invasion in Ukraine is escalating, and it’s difficult to know how this will end. But Vladimir Putin has already lost, irrespective of the outcome: a crashing Russian economy, the Rouble has collapsed, and receiving opprobrium from most of the rest of the world. As well as what populist dictators hate the most: removal of the Russian football team from World Cup games.

And is has also provided an opportunity for the Australian Prime Minister to talk tough. It’s obvious Scott Morrison wants to be seen as part of a war-time government, but it’s hard to convince the Australian public. He’s doing the right thing to call out Russian aggression in Ukraine but Australia is not at war.

It’s also hard to think that if there wasn’t a federal election coming up, the government’s response would have been close to nothing. After all, that’s all they did when Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014, and almost as much during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990s.

Australia doesn’t have very much of a relationship with Russia or Ukraine: the electorate would like Australia to provide the support needed to end the conflict, but it’s a far away conflict and it probably won’t play on the mind of the electorate at the next federal election.

There is one Australian connection, however, that needs to be looked at: Rupert Murdoch and Putin do have a close relationship. Putin facilitated the sale of Russian media companies to the Murdoch empire in the early 2000s, a time when Murdoch was having financial difficulties. And now the favour is being repaid, with favourable pro-Russian commentary on the US Fox News channel, which is now being replayed on Russian television. A friend in need is a friend indeed, and 20 years later, Murdoch is propagandising on behalf of Putin.

There is very little governments could have done to stop the floods in Queensland and northern NSW – except for introduce climate change mitigation about 30 years ago – but, even still, there is action that can be taken to be prepared when the inevitable effects of climate change arrive.

A report outlining the climate change events that would hit eastern Australia up until April 2022 was delivered to National Cabinet in November 2021, but it seems the government failed to act upon anything, and the communities now being affected by these floods were caught totally unawares.

Preparing for a crisis and acting when the crisis arrives is the primary reason for the existence of governments – offering protection and support when the community needs it – but the federal and NSW governments seem to think that it’s best to do nothing. If you lose your house, it’s your fault. If an entire town is flooded, what’s that got to do with the government? Should have prayed a little bit more, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened to you.

It’s the most narrow-minded perspective of what governments should be doing – or not doing, and it’s hard to see either the federal government or the NSW Government being able to win their respective elections with these types of ideological approaches. Governments are there to help and assist, not avoid people and punish them when a crisis arrives.

And in our ongoing series on independent candidates and minor parties, David Lewis is in conversation with Therese Faulkner, the president of the Australian Progressives, to look at their ambitions at the next federal election.

Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton are keen to mention the Community Party of China at every opportunity and how terrible they are – ignoring the fact that China is Australia’s number one trading partner and Australian athletes recently competed at the Winter Olympics in Beijing (so surely it can be all that bad) – and making the link between bad China and the Labor Party, especially its leader, Anthony Albanese.

And creating that link between Albanese and pinko-communist-leftist-Maoist-Guevarian-socialist thoughts, all because (allegedly) he glanced at the Communist Party of Australia’s newspaper, The Tribune, at some point in 1992. The Liberal Party support team at News Corporation did fall short of calling for the execution of Albanese for thought crimes against the state, but the sentiment was there.

An incident between an Australian Defence Force aircraft and a Chinese vessel in international waters in the Arafura Sea was magnified in the media and by the federal government – we still are not sure what occurred – but who’s got time for the facts when there’s an election to be won. And if the electorate tires from hearing about ‘China’, there’s always an opportunity to drag Australia into the Russia–Ukraine conflict, even though it’s not within Australia’s field of interest.

Yes, we need to be concerned about Russia’s invasions in Ukraine, but it’s a complex situation based on old Soviet Union politics, history, imperialism, economics and control of resources. But that doesn’t matter: it‘s an opportunity to push Australia towards a ‘khaki’ election, which the Coalition believes it has a stronger chance of winning, as well as being about to promote the idea that Albanese is ‘weak on border protection’. But will it work?

The Liberal Party seems to be at war with everyone and when they’ve cycled through the usual suspects – China, communists, the Greens, Labor, pensioners, welfare recipients, the poor – they return to an old and trusted enemy: the unions. A shutdown of Sydney’s train system was caused by the NSW Government, with the intention of blaming the unions.

Australia is poorly served by its mainstream media, and the Sydney Morning Herald provided a fine example of this when they pushed the idea that it was strike action caused by unions (no, it was a lockout by the NSW Government), and this provided attack points for Morrison over the next few days against unions – it’s a pity that it was all incorrect, but that was never the point. It allowed Morrison to push the message about life under an Albanese government – train strikes every day of week; misery; inconvenience; something about communism and the left.

In Morrison’s dystopia, there are no shades of grey, just Neanderthal simplicity: Scomo, good. Albo, bad.

And David Lewis catches up with Ryan Bruce, who is the candidate in Aston for The New Liberals: we find out about his campaign, and what The New Liberals are all about and what the future holds for them.

Butchering a classic pop song from a 1970s Australian band and playing a ukulele might not seem like the best way to prepare for a critical election year, but that’s exactly what Scott Morrison did. It seemed bizarre but there is a method to this madness: it keeps all the bad news away from the headlines and keeps the enemies of the Liberal Party occupied with the unimportant and minute details. It’s the hallmark of a populist politician: distract with stunts and gimmicks, keep your opponents in the electorate occupied with irrelevant material, and hope that everyone else forgets about all of your errors.

And, of course, part of the sing-song needs to include your wife and two daughters at Kirribilli House, because nothing overcomes a Liberal Party “problem with women” better than wheeling out Jen And The Girls©™ as a political “secret weapon”. Should family members be used politically to help a prime minister win an election? It would be better to stay in the background but if a spouse is going to become a part of the political process, they need to expect the scrutiny coming their way.

A desperate government will always resort to desperate measures and a government influenced by libertarian thinking and free-market and religio-fascist Christian values will always seek the maximum advantage in the most destructive way possible. If there is a vote to be gained, nothing is too low for the Liberal Party and for Morrison to reach.

And following on from the debacle of the Religious Discrimination Bill, Morrison and Peter Dutton – aided and abetted by a posse of Liberal Party MPs – decided to create all sorts of problems with China (as if they haven’t done enough damage already) by dropping bipartisanship on foreign relations and accusing Labor deputy leader Richard Marles of being the “Manchurian Candidate” – and their friends at News Corporation managed to find a video of Anthony Albanese speaking three sentences of Mandarin to a China–Australia forum in 2018.

Welcome to modern Australia, as interpreted by conservatives: education and being able to speak a foreign language is rubbished, and national security and relationships with the biggest trading partner is damaged, for the sake of an unlikely and undeserved election victory. It’s another good reason why the Liberal Party needs to be turfed out at the next election.

The weekend byelections in NSW suggest the main problems for the Morrison government will be the independents – the seat of Willoughby was almost lost to the independent candidate, Larissa Penn through a swing of 19%, and this spells trouble in the seats of North Sydney, Bennelong, Kooyong, Flinders and Goldstein.

And how difficult will it be for the Labor Party to win the 2022 federal election? Although they are 10 percentage points ahead of the Liberal–National Coalition in the current polls – 55% to 45% – it will still be a difficult election, for mathematical reasons: they only need a net gain of seven seats, but where the votes fall will be critical to whether there are also enough seats that will change hands.