I don't think he has broad electoral appeal, his approval ratings are pretty dreadful. And I think the Labor team looks tired and too familiar - they've been there a long time. For me, Mark Butler comes across well, Plibesek could be leader, but doesn't want to be. And they're copping friendly fire from Fitzgibbon.

I think this year has reflected terribly on Morrison, but I still can't see him losing the next election. As you are saying, and for whatever reason, people will grumble about it, but there doesn't seem a real appetite for change.

I agree. Scotty will probably get in again. Electoral apathy, the Murdoch press and Labor's lack of skill will do the job. Unless there is something new in the mix. Albo is pretty unexciting.

Then there is nothing for it; we must all join the Liberal Party. If they are going to stay in power, the only option is to change their policies.

That's so crazy it might just work!

Have a listen to this interview:

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/canberra-capers-with-laura-tingle/13432428

Depressing stuff.

The Liberal Party is a corrupt conservative party. Labour is ineffectual, and the Greens will not receive sufficient votes to form government.

So joining the Liberals with the aim of dragging them to the left seems the only reasonable option.

Disgraceful.

Do you think Australians are especially apathetic when it comes to politics?

Low voter turnout was the nominal reason for the introduction of compulsory voting.

As memory serves, Obama said if there was just one thing he would take from Australia it would be compulsory voting.

We are also gobsmacked at the commentary pointing out that while the PM could make 55 phone-calls to world leaders to get Mathias Cormann elected as boss of the OECD, he couldn’t make a single one to the international boss of Pfizer to get more vaccines for us.

:rage:

SMH

He hasn't even got the marketing right this time. An ad that tells folk to be afraid while at the same time thy are unable to get vaccinated.

This should blow up in his face.

Don't worry, Coal won't hurt you!

Oh my god, I love Scotty so much! He's never done anything! I mean it, he hasn't actually done anything- positive at least.

Morrison and Coalition sink in Newspoll on the back of rollout shambles

Morrison retains a solid lead over Albanese as better PM – 51-33%

:roll:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/19/former-nsw-labor-ministers-eddie-obeid-and-ian-macdonald-found-guilty-of-corruption-charges

Some good news!:

The former NSW Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald, and Obeid’s son Moses Obeid, have been found guilty of conspiracy to wilfully commit misconduct in public office over the allocation of coal licences in New South Wales in 2008. Obeid, 77, and his son Moses, 51, were accused of conspiring with Macdonald, 72, then the minister responsible for mineral resources, to grant a lucrative coal exploration licence over Obeid’s family farm, Cherrydale Park, in the Bylong Valley. Justice Elizabeth Fullerton, who presided over the case without a jury, heard from 38 witnesses in the year-long trial.

Fullerton found that a conspiracy to ensure a mining licence was granted over Obeid’s property was proved beyond reasonable doubt. She found there was evidence that Moses Obeid had formed an agreement some time before May 2008 with Macdonald, and that Macdonald had then proceeded as minister for mineral resources to take steps to ensure that a mining exploration licence was granted covering Cherrydale Park. In what is likely to become the leading case on criminal conspiracy in NSW, Fullerton found that the conspiracy was proved because Macdonald had agreed “to do what he could in connection with the granting of a licence at Mt Penny and to further the economic interests of the Obeids”.

Australians are cooowaaarddssss.

Then there is nothing for it; we must all join the Liberal Party. If they are going to stay in power, the only option is to change their policies. — Banno

Do you really believe change of policy in the Liberal party can come from the bottom and work it's way up, or that any individual can work their way up to gain power without becoming corrupted by the culture?

God bloody dammit Jordies make a point that I totally missed and now I'm even more mad - we literally have a whole architecture in place to do vaccines for the flu shot every year which has been running for ages now, and instead of using that tried and true mechanism of public health this fucking government privatized the rollout. Not just in the sense of waiting for AZ or UQ to manufacture vaccines here - which they also did - but the actual logistics of rollout itself. FFFAAARRRrkrrrkkkkkkkkksdfsd this fuckinggg governmsdfgndasigdttshit.

A dissection of Liberal incompetence:

We’re paying companies millions to roll out COVID vaccines. But we’re not getting enough bang for our buck

The independent review of the pubic service completed in 2019 says:

...the APS is not performing at its best today and it is not ready for the big changes and challenges that Australia will face between now and 2030.

This prior to Covid.

The first rule of any project tis make sure you use people who have done the same thing before. Instead of making us of the existing pharmaceutical distribution chan, the Feds tried to build a new one from scratch. Because the Public Service has been reduced to bare bones, they were not up to the task even of providing oversight... a word who's meaning has changed in interesting ways over the last twenty years, along with the demise of effective leadership.

Private contractors received $156m to vaccinate the most at-risk... that went well, didn't it.

I think NY did that too, and it was a fiasco. My state used the county health departments with assistance from the National Guard, so mostly public, with some volunteers to help.

Australia has a population and economy about the size of Texas, but it's scattered around the edges of a huge landmass. That's both a challenge and an advantage?

We already deal effectively with distance, so that's wasn't the issue. The Government is broken. The Liberal Party is a mismatch of conservatives and liberals proper - it is as if the one party tried to contain both Democrats and Republicans - it's only unifying feature is dogmatic worship of a fetishised notion of free enterprise, with the result that all decisions are based on ideology and not fact.

it's only unifying feature is dogmatic worship of a fetishised notion of free enterprise, — Banno

Awarding contracts can be a good way to get things done. It can definitely backfire, but public operations can also fail spectacularly.

Both methods are subject to corruption. There should be procedures for awarding contracts, like with sealed bids. Does Australia do that?

Both methods are subject to corruption. — frank

The states have independent bodies that can investigate public corruption in the civil service and amongst politicians. We need one at Federal level, but for some reason the incumbents don't see it as a priority...

but for some reason the incumbents don't see it as a priority... — Banno

Because they're corrupt.

You might say that. I couldn't possibly comment.

You might say that. I couldn't possibly comment. — Banno

Did you see the Netflix version of that? It was pretty good.

I've been so put off by so much of the wider discourse putting down the recent lockdown protests here as just being a bunch of idiots. They were idiots, but they were not just that. This guy really articulates it well:



So much utterly misdirected anger at those protests.

Well put.

Keep in mind that their actions put others directly at risk.

There almost certainly would have been folk there who have Covid.

They were unmasked, allowing the virus to spread.

While both state and feds share responsibility for the frustration expressed, that is insufficient to justify the protests.

Freedom to protest does not extend to putting others in danger.

A Grattan Institute report of interested. Lack of leadership at Federal level is demonstrable.

Gridlock: removing barriers to policy reform

Analysis of a large sample of proposed policy reforms over the past decade shows that unpopularity is now an insuperable obstacle to reform... Australia could break the gridlock in policy reform by increasing the expertise and independence of the public service, reducing the number of ministerial advisers closely tied to political parties and making them more accountable, tightening controls over political donations, campaign finance, lobbying, and post-politics careers, and setting up a federal anti-corruption commission with teeth to ensure that the rules of the system are followed.

The lack of capacity at Federal level is having real, deleterious results at a local level.

Have a listen to the podcast.

The lack of capacity at Federal level is having real, deleterious results at a local level. — Banno

Would it be that this were a bug, rather than a feature, of liberal rule.

liberal — StreetlightX

But see the recent backflip of the ALP.

negative gearing and capital gains tax

Getting rid of good policy. John Daley's point is that inaction is now endemic, the norm in politics, and will stay there at least until cross-benchers force a corruption commission.

Fair enough. Am listening to the podcast now.